Ghanaian footballer, Micheal Essien joined Indonesian top-flight club Persib Bandung last year to become the country’s highest-profile footballer of all time. He scored five goals in 29 games last season for the Liga 1 outfit.
The 35-year-old Chelsea great won the Champions League, two Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the League Cup during nine years at Stamford Bridge.
However Persib have now released Essien after filling their maximum quota of foreign players with a series of close-season signings.
Club chief executive Zainuri Hasyim said: “Essien was not among the players we launched for the new season, because we wanted to fulfill the PSSI [Indonesian FA] regulation of four foreign players in a team.”
The news is a humiliating snub to the Accra-born midfield powerhouse, who has won 58 Ghana caps.
However local media reports claim Essien is set to be thrown a career lifeline by Persib’s league rivals Bali United, based in Indonesia’s tourist paradise.
