Life Story: Born and grew up in Accra, Ghana. He spent his childhood dribbling around trees and sometimes crashing into them. He completed secondary school in Ghana in 1998 at the Saint Augustine’s College.

First appeared on television playing for Ghana’s under-12s

He began his career in a local club in his native Ghana, called Liberty Professionals. He then got a breakthrough when he played in the Under-17 world Cup in New Zealand. This attracted a lot of European scouts for him. He got a trial with Manchester United and showed up with a fellow Ghanaian triallist -Atiku -, whose bad behaviour irritated United. The club didn’t particularly like Essien either, but offered him a spell with its Belgian farm team, Royal Antwerp.

Essien said no. He mooched around his agent’s flat in Monaco distraught, until the agent phoned Bastia in Corsica and persuaded them to take him. This was in July 1999. There Essien grew into a monster.

At Bastia, he was not very regular, playing at right back, left back and central defense. Then because of an injury to one of his teammates, he was given a temporary opportunity to play in central midfield. Essien played very well in this role.

In 2001, even though he was one of the youngest players in the tournament, he took part in the World Youth Chamionship in Argentina, and performed exceptionally well. He made his Ghana full team debut in the 2002 African Cup of Nations.

In 2003 he was sold to Lyon for €12m. Paris St. Germain made the best offer, which Bastia accepted, but Essien rejected it and moved to Lyon. At Lyon, kept getting bigger. He played more defensive midfield. He was one of the reasons Lyon won their 3rd consecutive French Title and Essien featured regularly in it.

One team-mate nicknamed him The Bison. Essien himself remarks that he has yet to meet anyone who could knock him over.

In August 2005, Essien declared that he would "go on strike" against Lyon because of the club's refusal to trade him to English champions Chelsea. ESSIEN IN CHELSEA Essien is now rated one of the most expensive players in the world. He moved from Lyon on a transfer fee that could cripple a whole lot of teams in the world.

National team

Fact Sheet

2002 - French Cup runner-up with Bastia

2002/03: Bastia were one of the surprise packages of the season and looked set for European qualification before a slump in form in the last two months. The driving force of the team was undoubtedly Essien who produced the best football of his career to date. He was reportedly attracting interest from Liverpool FC and Everton FC in the summer of 2003, but in the end found himself in a tug of war between Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain FC. The prospect of playing in the UEFA Champions League ultimately swung Essien's decision Lyon's way for a €7.8m fee.

2003 - Joins French champions Olympique Lyon for 7.8 million euros ($9.41 million).

2004 - Wins first of two French league titles with Lyon.

2005 - Lyon crowned champions again.

Did you know?

Website: www.chez.com/mickaelessien

He was named in the Black Stars provisional 30-man squad for the World Cup Brazil, 2014.