Greek club Panathinaikos have made a good start to the campaign and are only three points behind table leaders Olympiakos Piraeus.
The club created headlines during the summer after managing to sign former Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien from AC Milan. The Ghanaian international was once one of the world’s best midfielders. Numerous injuries – especially to his knee – have robbed him of a promising career. Even though has been playing football of late, Essien is nowhere near enough to the level of 2008. It appears that he will never reach those levels.
Despite this,Panathinaikosshowed a lot of confidence to sign him. However, the player is yet to make his debut for his new team. The club have now confirmed that they are prepared to wait on the player’s return from a new injury.
They do not want to risk him over a couple of matches. The player has stated that he is fit enough to play, but the club are understood to keep him on the sidelines for a couple of weeks in order to be 100% sure. There was a possibility that he would be included in the squad against archrivals Levadiakos. This is the fourth match of the campaign and it will take place on Saturday.
Panathinaikos have hinted that Essien may be ready in time for the fifth matchday. The club will be at home to Platanias for this game. It gives the Greek outfit plenty of time to give Essien enough match fitness with a view of peaking just before the future clash with Olympiakos in the middle of November. In the past, Essien has taken a couple of weeks in order to reach top match fitness. The player recently admitted in an interview that he had come from the worst in his career and is looking forward to much better events.