Retired Ghanaian and international footballer Michael Essien has revealed that his decision to take up coaching was to avoid depression after his retirement.
The former Chelsea midfielder, who won the Champions League in 2012, stated that depression is a real challenge for retired players and wanted to ensure he didn’t fall victim to it.
Michael Essien earned his UEFA A and UEFA Elite Youth A licenses in 2023 and is currently an assistant coach at Danish club Nordsjaelland, although he admitted coaching wasn’t initially part of his plans.
“When I was playing, if you asked me if I wanted to go into coaching, I would say no,” he said in an interview with Joy Sports.
“But as time passed, I started thinking: I’ve been in football all my life; why not take up coaching and acquire my license to still stay in football and be around the players?”
“I took this decision to go into coaching because I didn’t want to be one of these ex-players who finish their careers, go home, and start thinking about what they want to do, only to get into depression.”
“For now, I am not thinking about being a head coach; it is too stressful. I like to be behind the scenes, away from these media duties and cameras in my face. But you never know; maybe at some point,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the player has stated he hopes Ghanaians will appreciate his sacrifice for the senior national team.
He claimed that most of the injuries he sustained in his career were when he was playing for the national team.
”Most of my bad injuries happened when I was playing for the Black Stars, but who cares, it happens. I do not hold any grudges or anything. I was just unlucky, and injuries are part of the game, so we just have to deal with them. You know, I have no regrets. I think I had quite a decent career, and I always look into the positive side of every situation,” he said.
”I hope they are. I think I am one of the few players to have gone through every age category, represented the country at those levels, and succeeded, so I hope they are (appreciative of his service to the country),” Essien concluded.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
