Michael Essien’s thighs were too big for his knees, says Mikel

Mikel, who played alongside Essien at Chelsea, disclosed on his podcast that the club’s doctors informed Essien that his knees were unable to support the weight of his thighs, leading to repeated injuries.

According to Mikel, Essien was only able to regain consistency in his fitness once he began losing weight in his upper body, which alleviated some of the pressure on his knees. Mikel described Essien’s physique, stating that his thighs were “massive” and his knees were “tiny,” which made sense given the doctor’s diagnosis.

“He was always injured…the doctors said your weight on your knees, the weight of your thighs are so heavy that your knees can’t hold them. When you look at Michael, his tighs are massive and when you look at his knees, the knees are that tiny, then it made sense what the doctor said. So he kept having reoccurring injuries until he started to lose the upper body to give his knees some rest and the freedom to be able to move,” he said.

Essien, known as ‘The Bison’ for his bulky, energetic, and powerful build, is considered one of the best box-to-box midfielders to have played in the Premier League. Throughout his illustrious career, he scored many memorable goals for both Ghana and his various clubs, winning a total of 13 titles along the way.

Of the eight clubs Essien played for, his most successful stint was with Chelsea, where he spent ten years and won four FA Cups, two Premier League titles, one League Cup, one Community Shield, and the Champions League. Essien scored 25 goals during his time at Chelsea, the highest number of goals he scored for any single club.

Source:Fiilasports/ghanasoccernet