Former Ghana midfielder Michael Essien was the reason many Ghanaians turned Chelsea fans and wishes he played there forever.

Essien, 37, has revealed why he left English Premier League side, despite his love and admiration for the London side.

The Ghanaian joined the London based side in 2005 from Olympique Lyonnais and went on to make 168 appearances and scored 17 goals in the process.

He spent nine years at the Stamford Bridge before joining AC Milan in 2014, winning nine trophies with the Blues.

“Every injury I had when I was playing for Chelsea I came back stronger. I remember my first injury was around September 2008, I came back much stronger and took my position in the team,” Essien said on ConvosWithCarol.

“2010 was the same but when Villas-Boas came, I was unlucky because I was part of his plans. I knew him long ago because he worked with Jose. I was part of his plans but then I got injured so I didn’t play any game for him. I returned from injury and played like just five minutes for him so he didn’t really had chance to work with me.”

“Another coach that was very good to me was Ancelloti [Carlo]. He’s one of the best but he was unlucky because I started the season with him but didn’t finish. The second-year I didn’t start but finished with him so he got only like a year from me which was sad. It was due to injuries.

He added, “Di Matteo came and obviously I was coming back from injury and I remember we played a Champions League game against Napoli and we lost. It was an away game. I think that was the last game for Villas-Boas.”

“The return game, Di Matteo made the decision to put all the big boys in the game…the Lampards, Drogbas, Makeleles, and the Essiens and we won 4-0 after extra time and qualified. A couple of weeks later he said I was not matched fit which I didn’t appreciate because if that’s the case why did I play 120 minutes a few weeks ago against Napoli, but anyway everyone sees things differently so I didn’t mind because I was working for the team.

“That’s when things started declining because I felt a bit down but then I had gotten an opportunity to go to Real Madrid so I proved to them that I’m back. I was playing at the right-back at Real Madrid which was one of the most difficult positions on the pitch but I managed to do it.”