ACCRA, Ghana – Hopes of Michael Essien making a much awaited return to the senior national team, the Black Stars as the 2014 World Cup qualifiers get underway next month has received a severe jolt as the Real Madrid midfielder is not keen on returning to the team any time soon.
According to a close source to the on-loan Chelsea star, Essien is not particularly happy with the kind of treatment meted out to some of the senior players of the Black Stars some of whom were treated shabbily the Ghanaian football authorities as they entered the twilights of their careers.
He privately concedes that officialdom are only interested in taking all the glory when things are running smooth, but quick to ignore the players whose toil led to national glories.
A case in point is Stephen Appiah who recently conceded that he doesn’t recollect the last time he had even a phone call from the Ghanaian football authorities, let alone being invited for the just-ended AFCON tournament.
Again Essien believes he won’t be in a position to warm the bench when he comes for national assignments to be ‘humiliated’ like other senior players and so prefers to enjoy his relatively peace at Madrid where he has gradually warmed his way into the scheme of things at the Los blancos.
Again he knows he’s getting to the latter stages of his career so he is being cautious of returning to the national team fold where he suffered most of his career threatening injuries.
With the pitches in Africa nothing good to write home about, Essien believes a new injury to his fragile knee will effectively mean an end to his career so the idea of him returning to the team for now is almost non-existent.
