Essien rejects ‘dirty’ tag
Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien spoke out to defend his reputation after a string of controversial challenges, insisting: “I'm not a dirty player".
Essien, who signed from Lyon this summer for £24.4m (€36.1m), compared himself to combative former Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira in claiming he needed time to adapt to English football.
Despite widespread criticism of challenges on Bolton's Tal Ben Haim, Liverpool's Dietmar Hamann and Arsenal's Lauren, he insisted he had never deliberately set out to hurt an opponent.
Essien escaped with a booking for a dangerous challenge on Ben Haim against Bolton in October, with the Football Association barred from upgrading his yellow card to red by FIFA.
He was then punished with a two-match suspension by UEFA after they reviewed video replays of his knee-high challenge on Hamann during the Champions League group tie at Stamford Bridge last month.
However, Essien again escaped a dismissal when he was only booked for an apparent arm into Lauren's face at Highbury on Sunday, with no further punishment for another clash with Robin van Persie.
That led to renewed criticism of his physical approach, with Arsene Wenger claiming Essien deserved a red card for his challenge on Lauren as “he did not play the ball, he played the player”.
The 23-year-old Ghana international responded: ``I feel the time is now right for me to speak about recent incidents in which I have been involved and I would like to make the following clear.
“During my career in football so far I have never gone out with the intention of hurting anyone in a tackle. Nothing I have ever done has been deliberate. I am not a dirty player.”
