The 29-year-old hasn’t featured for Roberto Di Matteo’s side in the early stages of the season and hasn’t managed to regained the form he had for us before a serious of serious injuries over the years, so he may be deemed surplus to requirements and allowed to move on.
He’s a popular player amongst the Chelsea support and would prefer to stay at the club but putting sentiment aside, selling him would be the right thing to do. He’s already behind John Obi Mikel, Frank Lampard, Raul Meireles and perhaps even Oriol Romeu in the pecking order. Essien has not been the same player for a number of years now and there’s always the ‘one more year’ argument, but it’s been years and he’s not looked himself for some time. I believe it’s time to sell him, unfortunately.
He’s not the only player who may make a late move before the close of the window as Di Matteo will look to make some room in his squad, as both Yossi Benayoun and Florent Malouda don’t seem to be part of his plans either. There’s some interest in Benayoun and I’m sure he’ll eventually leave as he seems to want to go and play. Malouda, on the other hand, is a worry as I’m sure he’d be content to sit on his contract until it expires.