 There are those who would read the news of Michael Essien's staggering decision to put his national team career on hold, shrug and simply say we saw it coming.
For years, Essien has been the poster boy of Ghana football, the local boy who came good, a symbol of the effectiveness of the Ghanaian youth system and an example to many youngsters of how hard work and the right attitude can take you to the top of your game.
But during that period too there are those who have openly questioned his commitment to the nation, insisted that while he has always turned up to play and show his world class credentials he has never done it with the same passion he has built his very good reputation in Europe as a world class midfielder.
They will be the ones not shocked by the news that Essien is seeking to put his international career on hold and concentrate on his club career in the meantime.
“I think I will be taking a break. Not retiring, just not playing for time. I have to take the right decision for myself,” he said. “I don't know whether they will be disappointed because they have done fine without me.”
There is no doubt that the Black Stars have thrived without Essien. Without him at the 2010 Nations Cup, Ghana reached the Final of the tournament. It was something that had not been done since the great Abedi Pele inspired a similar run at the 1992 Nations Cup. And then with Essien out of the side, Ghana reached the quarter-final of the World Cup.
Yet many football fans were eager to have him back as would any set of fans especially for a midfielder so good at what he does.
It appears though that he has decided club must come before country and that putting his career that has badly been interrupted by long term injuries twice while he was on Ghana duty first is the primary objective.
It will do little to endear him to a nation that frowns so strongly on players they feel turn their backs on them.
In 2006 there were many, myself not included who were convinced that Essien had bailed out on Ghana just before the 2006 Nations Cup with a fake injury while playing for Chelsea. In 2010 there will be many, myself included in no doubt that he is making a gross mistake in putting himself ahead of the calling of a nation.
Sure he has been wrecked by injuries and listening to those close to him, he feels badly neglected during the period when he battled hard to get back on his feet after the debilitating injury.
He earns a ton of money playing for Chelsea and happily even when he was still crocked, just before the World Cup signed a long term extension.
Like most humans, self interest is paramount for him; he is giving priority to where he butters his bread.
But the story of Essien at the highest level will never be complete without the writings of Ghana all over it. It is an argument we drum up every day but one so true. Essien like many of the country's present day big names walked on the back of Ghana to international fame. The country does not ask for blind loyalty in return. Just loyalty and a recognition of the role it played by turning up and playing for a country that adores you so much. He had done it remarkably all these years. Bailing out now is therefore a poor decision. Poor timing.
It was in the shirts of Ghana that we all applauded his ball playing skills as a central defender at the 1999 World Under-17 Championships. We admired his new role as a midfielder two years later at the World Youth Championships two years later and when he made that big money switch from Lyon to Chelsea, he got a work permit because he had international games with Ghana to show he is worth his place in English football.
There is a reason why in this part of the world many still adore Abedi Pele for all his flaws. It is because we never for a moment doubted what pulling on the Black Stars meant to him. We knew from his selfless services that for all the fame and glory he genuinely cared. And there is reason why while we still very much respect the likes Tony Yeboah and Samuel Osei Kufuor, they have never quiet managed to get the same kind of adulation.
There was something about their relationship with the national team; an air of you guys should be lucky I am playing for you that put off a lot of people. If this story of Essien wanting to put Ghana on hold turns out to be true he will be cementing his play alongside those two.
Hopefully this will turn out not to be true. If it is, hopefully he will do a u-turn even though you can bet a country that has mastered the art lately of producing fine midfielder will not keep a place in the centre of the park waiting for him. What should not happen and must not happen is a national emergency to urge him back if he has truly walked or we are being told taken a rest.
This will deepen all the wrong perceptions about Essien and the Ghana national team. It is bound to soil further a reputation that has taken a battering both for issues on and off the field.
And not even some of his strongest admirers, myself included will feel this time that it is not deserved.
Source: Michael Oti Adjei
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