Tuesday, 8th December 2009

Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien is unperturbed by the disturbance the Africa Cup of Nations will bring to his club. Apart from himself, the Blues will lose three key players in John Obi Mikel, Salomon Kalou, and in-form striker Didier Drogba. The former Lyon man feels however, that the club’s strength in depth will be able to handle their departures without any problems.

Speaking to Sky Sports, the 27-year-old said "We’ll be going away in January, but we still have a very big and good squad to come in and do the job. It won’t cause a big problem for the club. We’re still at the top now and have some difficult games to play. We will come back and help them finish the season.”

Of the tournament to be played in Angola, Essien feels the quality of the players is very high. In recent years, the emergence of world-class African players has been rampant, with the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor, Yaya Toure, and team-mate Didier Drogba easily regarded as one the best in their positions among many others. “It’s going to be a very difficult tournament. We have a lot of African players playing in Europe. It’ll be very difficult. We have some good players in the team who can do a job,” the Ghana native said.

 

 

 

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