Two Chelsea FC greats in Michael Essien and Frank Lampard made their marks on this day
It was brought to my attention (through Twitter of course) that 19th August marks two important dates in Chelsea FC’s history. On 19th August 2001, Frank Lampard made his debut for the Blues, while the club would confirm the signing of Michael Essien four years later.
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Lampard came to Stamford Bridge from West Ham as a 23-year-old prodigy. The fee was reportedly around £11million which was quite hefty back in the day. However, I don’t think there is a single person who could argue that he wasn’t worth every penny.
Alongside Chelsea-born and bred John Terry, the two Englishmen were the pillars upon which the modern Chelsea FC was built. While Roman Abramovich and his plethora of managers splashed the cash, no-one could unseat these two. With Petr Cech joining the pair not long after, the trio would be the driving force behind many Chelsea successes.
His appearance in a 1-1 draw with Newcastle United fourteen years ago would be the first of a whopping 648 competitive appearances for the midfielder in a Chelsea shirt. During that period, he would win three Premier League titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups, one Europa League and the Champions League. Additionally he would win far too many individual accolades to list while his distinguished career would render him one of the greatest English players ever to play the game.
If you want to revel more in his incredible achievements, I suggest you make the jump to my colleague Khaled Abdallah’s article in which he recounts Lampard’s best Chelsea FC moments.
We’ll now shift the focus onto Michael Essien, a player widely regarded as underappreciated. In fact, some would argue that he is so widely regarded as underappreciated that it pretty much negates the underappreciated bit. Nevertheless, Essien was the player tasked with replacing the irreplaceable Claude Makélélé and has come closest to fulfilling this charge than anyone else.
Essien was signed from Lyon after a transfer saga that involved him asking to leave, the club president refusing to sanction a deal, and a whole lot else. Eventually, Jose Mourinho got his man, and the move was finally confirmed on this day ten years ago. The fee was around £26million, which made him the most expensive Blues signing to that point.
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However, much like Lampard, he did nothing but justify the price tag.
The midfielder would make 256 competitive appearances for the Blues in eight seasons. He quickly turned into a fan favourite at Stamford Bridge due to his work-rate and knack of scoring a decent goal (more on that later).
Unfortunately, towards the end of his Premier League career he began to pick frequently up some rather serious injuries, almost always related to his knees and ACLs, and his Chelsea career sputtered to its denouement. During the 2012/13 season, he was loaned to Real Madrid, where he reunited with Mourinho before he moved on to AC Milan in January of last year.
But why are we discussing the bad times? Essien won two league titles, four FA Cups, one League Cup and indeed the Champions League (although he only made two European appearances that season). He, too, won a spate of individual awards and was named Chelsea’s Player Of The Year in 2007.
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That’s all well and good, but now it’s time for the goals. Essien only scored 25 goals for Chelsea, but boy were some of those goals memorable.
Remember his strike in the ill-fated Champions League semi-final against Barcelona?
What about the stunning late equaliser against Arsenal?
The contributions of both these players will always be remembered at Stamford Bridge. There is no doubt about that.
What’s your favourite Lampard or Essien memory? Let us know in the comments below!
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