Arsenal wasting their time over Essien protest say Ghana FA

The recently broken story that Arsene Wenger was considering an official complaint over Chelsea’s use of Michael Essien after he was absent for Ghana’s game against Angola, looks like it has run into a dead end.

Wenger was quoted as saying: “Essien didn’t play for Ghana but he still played against us,”

“He was not entitled to do so.”

“We will investigate to see if there has been a breach of the regulations.”

The Times, who originally ran the story, said that the Ghana vice-president, Fred Pappoe, “was unaware” that Chelsea had permission to use Essien, but it seems that the man in question was on holiday at the time, and asked the reporter to ring back to clarify. He obviously didn’t!

“I had a call from the guy [Times reporter] last week asking whether we [FA] were going to complain against the use of Essien by Chelsea because he had stayed away from our game.

“I made it clear to him [reporter] that I was out of the country and would not be in the position to know[decision of the FA to complain against the use of the player] so he should call later when I was back in town.” said Pappoe.

“He hasn’t called me up till now. I find it improper for them to put out something within that context as a basis to doubt another argument.

“It’s so wrong to do that. I have still not got a call from the guy for the GFA’s official position and on the matter they are reporting today[Sunday],”

Another Ghana FA insider told Ghanasoccernet: “The journalists chasing this story have sent Arsenal on a wild goose chase,”.

“We have been approached by many journalists in the UK and the real fact is that we granted Chelsea the permission to use Essien in the game.

“We gave Chelsea a letter to this effect long time ago so they should simply stop wasting their time over this issue.”

So that’s that then!