{"id":428634,"date":"2017-10-14T12:00:27","date_gmt":"2017-10-14T12:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2017\/10\/14\/essien-derek-to-return-to-ghana-premier-league\/"},"modified":"2017-10-14T12:00:27","modified_gmt":"2017-10-14T12:00:27","slug":"essien-derek-to-return-to-ghana-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/10\/14\/essien-derek-to-return-to-ghana-premier-league\/","title":{"rendered":"Essien, Derek to return to Ghana Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"medsection1\">\n<!-- End of html generated by this->header() --><\/p>\n<p class=\"floatLeft\">Sports News of Saturday, 14 October 2017<\/p>\n<p class=\"floatRight\"><strong>Source: <\/strong>The Finder<\/p>\n<p>2017-10-14<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-left\">\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/24040929.jpg\" alt=\"Essien Vs Czechs\" title=\"Essien Vs Czechs\" width=\"240\" height=\"360\" \/><span class=\"image_caption\"><span>Essien wants to return to the Ghana league according to close pal Derek Boateng<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"noPrint\">\n<div id=\"537626303\" style=\"width:300;height:250;margin:0;padding:0\">\n\t\t  <noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" name=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" src=\"http:\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/afr?auid=537626303&amp;cb=149916385178506\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\"><a href=\"\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/rc?cs=b2ad7fa7fd&amp;cb=149916385178506\">&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/1507982427_675_ai\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/iframe><\/noscript>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"clear:right\">Former Ghana international, Derek Boateng says he and his former colleague Michael Essien have had discussions concerning the possibility of returning and playing in the Ghana Premier League before they retire from active football.<\/p>\n<p>Derek Boateng and Michael Essien both played for Dansoman-based Liberty Professionals before a career breakthrough came when they played for the Black Starlets and Black Satellites in 1999 and 2001 respectively.<\/p>\n<p>Despite playing only a handful of games in the Ghana Premier League when they started off, both Essien and Derek went on to have hugely successful careers- even if Derek in particular didn\u2019t reach the heights many expected him to.<\/p>\n<p>Essien on the other hand played for some of the biggest teams in the World, including Real Madrid and AC Milan, but it was at Chelsea that the \u2018Bison\u2019 as he was affectionately called, made his name and won the UEFA Champions League.<\/p>\n<p>Both players are in their twilights now, with Essien playing for Indonesian side Persib Bandung while Boateng is without a club, but says his agent is working on a deal which will see him return to club football soon.<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nWhen asked if playing in the Ghana league now that he is clubless is a possibility, Boateng answered in the affirmative and said it is something he and his childhood friend Essien have discussed in the past.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on the sideline of the recently held Celebrity Workout, Boateng said \u201cOh yeah, why not? I don\u2019t have a problem playing in the Ghana Premier League, in fact it is something me and Essien have talked about before. That we should come back home and play for Liberty Professionals before we retire because we really didn\u2019t have a feel of the Ghana league before leaving the shores of Ghana to play in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Derek, 34, who won 47 caps for Ghana played for several top teams in Europe, including Fulham in England, Panathinaikos in Greece, Getafe in Spain, and FC Koln in Germany.<\/p>\n<p>Derek was a member of the Black Stars squad that participated in the 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cup.Essien also played in two FIFA World Cups for Ghana (2006, 2014).<\/p>\n<p><!-- uploaded by: 58 updated by: -1 --><\/p>\n<p><!-- Start of html generated by this->footer() -->\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a style=\"display:none\" rel=\"follow\" href=\"http:\/\/megatheme.ir\/\" title=\"\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633\">\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sports News of Saturday, 14 October 2017 Source: The Finder 2017-10-14 Essien wants to return to the Ghana league according to close pal Derek Boateng &#13; Former Ghana international, Derek Boateng says he and his former colleague Michael Essien have had discussions concerning the possibility of returning and playing in the Ghana Premier League before [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-428634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Essien, Derek to return to Ghana Premier League - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/10\/14\/essien-derek-to-return-to-ghana-premier-league\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Essien, Derek to return to Ghana Premier League - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Sports News of Saturday, 14 October 2017 Source: The Finder 2017-10-14 Essien wants to return to the Ghana league according to close pal Derek Boateng &#013; Former Ghana international, Derek Boateng says he and his former colleague Michael Essien have had discussions concerning the possibility of returning and playing in the Ghana Premier League before [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/24040929.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/14\\\/essien-derek-to-return-to-ghana-premier-league\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/14\\\/essien-derek-to-return-to-ghana-premier-league\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Essien, Derek to return to Ghana Premier League\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-14T12:00:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/14\\\/essien-derek-to-return-to-ghana-premier-league\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":386,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/14\\\/essien-derek-to-return-to-ghana-premier-league\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ghanamma.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/24040929.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/14\\\/essien-derek-to-return-to-ghana-premier-league\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/14\\\/essien-derek-to-return-to-ghana-premier-league\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/14\\\/essien-derek-to-return-to-ghana-premier-league\\\/\",\"name\":\"Essien, Derek to return to Ghana Premier League - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/14\\\/essien-derek-to-return-to-ghana-premier-league\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/14\\\/essien-derek-to-return-to-ghana-premier-league\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ghanamma.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/24040929.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-14T12:00:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/14\\\/essien-derek-to-return-to-ghana-premier-league\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/14\\\/essien-derek-to-return-to-ghana-premier-league\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ghanamma.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/24040929.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ghanamma.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/24040929.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Essien, Derek to return to Ghana Premier League - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/10\/14\/essien-derek-to-return-to-ghana-premier-league\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Essien, Derek to return to Ghana Premier League - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Sports News of Saturday, 14 October 2017 Source: The Finder 2017-10-14 Essien wants to return to the Ghana league according to close pal Derek Boateng &#13; 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