Chelsea’s Michael Essien - how much is he worth?
He was brought to Chelsea for 24.5m, and at the time a lot of people considered it to be the cost of doing business as Roman Abramovich’s latest pet project.
But as anyone who has seen Michael Essien’s performances last season can attest, he has justified his transfer price. As a young midfielder he will take over from Lampard as Chelsea’s heartbeat in the next two years and everything points towards him being a bigger and brighter star for Chelsea.
His all-round game is great - it’s to his credit that people judge his defending skills so harshly, or that they sometimes criticise his shooting accuracy. The former is not his business and the latter will improve as he plays more.
So the big question is - how much is Michael Essien worth? For me he’s more important to Chelsea than Drogba or Terry, and possibly Cech as well.
What do you guys think?
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Discussion - 41 Responses
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Is there a better box-to-box midfielder than him? I wonder. Only 24 and already is the best. must worth 35+m?
24.5 mil??? i think it is too much, man utd bought ronaldo for only 12mil, is essien worth twice as much as him now??? i doubt it, we will see how important to chelski essien is when he leaves 4 the african cup.
Both Essien and Drogba have proved to be worth the inflated price we were forced to pay for them. If Darren Bent is £17m then paying around £25 for each of Essien and Drogba is well worth it. In premiership terms Essien is in my mind the best midfielder (the arguements of Gerrard or Lampard are always interesting in so far as they are both not as good as The Bison)
At Chelsea we have the stringest spine with the best forward, best midfielder, best defender and best goalie (Drogba, Essien, Terry and Cech)
If Torres is worth £25 milion then all 4 of them are worth more than £30m each.
Obviously if we compare them all to Shevchenko at £30,000,000 then each must be worth several billion!!
Invaluable. You can’t put a price on him, Terry, Cech or Drogba at the moment.
I’d say simply for the effort that he puts in, along with the relative versatility and ability to play in most positions, he’s out most important player currently.
he;s def 1 guy i’d have loved to see pull on a red shirt. he’s proved his worth at chelsea.
He is among the top 6 players in the world. Nuff said.
Michael Essien is one of very few players in football today who are worth 25 million pounds. Worth every penny, I say.
Essien was, in my book, the best EPL player last season. You may talk of the Ronaldos, the Drogbas, the Gerrards, but if you forget Essien, you’re getting your observations all wrong. He’s worth more than any of the above. I’ll put him at $50m.
I think he’s the best box-2-box in the PL at the moment.
Should be worth +- £35m.
Can now understand why Chelsea had to hijack the deal from United.
A better box to box may i point out Steven Gerrard is still alive
and yes i think Essien is a great player but I reckon Cech is a far superior player
I’d say he’s worth something like £20m to £25m.
I don’t agree with the £35m price tags, top 6 players in the world, etc.
Although I say he’s worth £20m to £25m, clubs would undoubtedly pay more. People have said if D. Bent was £17m and Torres £25m.. But neither of those players, in my opinion, were worth those prices. Albeit good players, but Tottenham and Liverpool both spent too much on those players. But that’s what you see in football nowadays, teams will pay excessive amounts simply because they can. If they want the player, and they can, who’s going to complain..
not worth 35m hes worth like 15-20 m he wasent the best player last season he dosent score many but when he first came to chelsea his first season he was crappp really crap he done 3-4 bad tackles i remeba one i think a 2 footed tackle on morientes anyway hes not all that everytime he scores a goal he celebrates like hes won the world cup his goal against birmingham was lucky ppl say hes worth like 25 m cause price of players right now overated overpriced torres 25m bent 16m not in top 6 footballers of all time in the owrld hes only been at chelsea for 2 years he can b the best already
Essien is a better tackler than both Gerard and Fabregas.
He plays with a tenacity that even Roy Keane would have feared.
Look Im a Man United fan and i can safely say that Essien is one of the best players in the premiership today. He can dominate a Midfield, and just think how successful Man Utd were with Keane in the team than without Keane, a Major difference. How can some of you compare Ronaldo to Essien? Infact, we all agree that 12 million for Ronaldo seems cheap to me for what he is now.
I dont think you can price a player of his quality, for the fact that a player like him is very much underrated and any price would be criticised. The fact that he was player of the year for Chelsea over Lampard and Drogba just shows how good he is.
I repeat I am a Man United fan, but has a football fan, you just have to admire someone of his quality along with his consistency and ability to play in many positions.
essien, in his first season, made some REALLY dirty tackles.
Mascherano is better tackler
Essien isnt overated or underated he is what he is hes a good player but he is replacable.
that’s about all that mascherano is better than essien at.
he’s a brute, unleashes crazy kicks from outside of the box, runs almost anyone down, can hold up the mid or attack from it. he’s awesome.
Essien was a dirty bas***d in his first season - with some nasty, cringe-worthy challenges, but he has developed his style a little since then. He’s in the Roy Keane bracket - tackles hard, plays hard, tenacity at it’s rawest, and I do remember Keano lunging in with some nast ar*e challanges in his day. Essien is to chelsea, what 2-3 players make up together at most other Premier league clubs at the moment, and taking into account the inflated player prices, and challenge for top of the Premiership is so contented this year, Essien should surely warrant a £50m price tag or there abouts, I mean Torres was £20m, Bent £17m, Bale £10m?, and so on… anyway, us United fans were on the losing side of the Chelsea hi-jack of Essien, but fair do’s - good on him for showing his worth, turns out he is worth it.
But we don’t dwell, bring on the Charlie T era! (Carlitos Tevez)
hargreaves is clearly better than essien
fabregas is bester then essien and hargreves vieira is a 50 million times better tackler then essien have u seen essiens challenges really dirty he cant tackle that well stevie g is betta then him plus for some reason when eva essien scores a goal he celebrates like a dik like hes won the world cup
In terms of box-to-box players, I think only Steven Gerrard is in the same bracket as Essien - this is just testament to the quality player he is. Unbelievable energy levels.
He is definitely worth a lot to Chelski, his adaptibility proved vital last season. However I think the most important thing is putting the ball in the back of the net and while Essien has his fair share of screamers, Drogba and Lampard both create and score piles of goals for the Roman Army.
£24.5m? Worth every penny. A valuation now? Priceless. Will be the best midfielder of the 2000s.
He’s worth a hell of a lot, at least 25 million.He’s one of the best players in the world, definitely.
I’d love to see him play for Inter, but we’re covered, and it seems unlikely.
Why is it always Liverpool and Arsenal supporters can see no further than their players? They can never give much credit to other clubs or their players
Hargreaves is better than Essien?
You’re either blind, stupid, or Hargreaves’ mum.
His girl ain’t that bad though…
going by todays stupid prices, if Nani and Anderson are £14m and £17m, and havent achieved anything, then Essien is £30m+ without question, the most versatile player in the prem and maybe world football
Funny people go on about Essiens dirty tackles…. they all seem to forget Gerrards done a number of very nasty 2 footed tackles in the past (cleaned his act up now..but wasn’t the cleanest player about)..
Essien is young, and will improve.. At the moment he is one of the best in the EPL, soon he will oe of the best in Europe and then he’ll be one of the best in the world…..
I agree with OB if nani and anderson are worth that much then Essien is about 50million
but Essien isnt the best player in the world he isnt even the best for his team
I’d have Terry or Cech at Liverpool well b4 him. Although i would’nt like the filthy piece of work Drogba in a Liverpool top !!!! 
hes definately not the best in the world, but probably the best versatile player, hes also young with time to improve
so who here agrees with me that hargreaves is better than essien
Michael Essien is a “fantastic” player. This was the view of the USA coach at last year’s World Cup when Essien played against his team. I agree. It was a great pity for Ghana that he was missing in the game against Brazil when Ghana put up a spirited performance but got overrun by Brazil in midfield on the break. Had Essien been playing things might have been different.
United wanted Essien - and initally Essien wanted to to to United. Chelsea have taken from United two outstanding talents: Essien and John Obi Mikel, who is still very young and will be an excellent player in two to three years time.
I think that Essien is the best upcoming player for his age. I believe that he will be Chelsea’s most valuable and out going player and will be scouted after by many big name club’s. The fear of Essien is that if ever he’s bought by Real Madrid it’ll ruin his career, Real M is good at ruining careers take Michael Owen for instance.
I still believe that Essien shit’s all over Ronaldo but doesn’t compare to STEVIE G. Liverpool for life.
Shaun Wright Phillips is also very determind
Essien is priceless. We are fans and our expertise of the game is shity at best. Mourinho is a great coach and he says that he signed 4-5 players (Equivallent) when he signed Essien.
That says a lot, being called a great player Or being equalled to 4-5 players at a time.
Essien, in several years time, will be worth well over 30 million on a transfer.
I really hope he never leaves, because he is the best all around player on the club.
he is an excelent player but he cant be compared with cech or terry or drogba. they all have different jobs to do. but i do think that he is better than lampard.
Agreed Turkish
Essien is easily amongst the top 3 midfielders in Premiership today. With the inflated prices he is easily worth 30 million GBP.
That said, I would rather have a Fabregas in my team
I think Kaka is about 35million so Essien is’nt 30 but still really good
i reckon essien is top class. when roman fc bought him i fort he was overpriced n overated but i have eaten my words. i have no idea how much he is worth though, transfer prices have been absolutely bizarre over the last season or so, probably because of billionaire owners at teams like chelsea n liverpool n madrid etc. but he is worth just as much as chelseas elite - terry cech n drogba