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Ghanaian international, Michael Essien has been appointed onto FC Nordsjaelland coaching staff.
The former Chelsea legend has been handed the coaching role after few weeks of embarking on a coaching course tour at the team.
A statement from the club reads, ” FC Nordsjælland has joined the former Ghanaian national team player, who has also been a profile in clubs such as Lyon, Real Madrid and Chelsea FC, as part of the club’s coaching team for the 2020-2021 season.
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“The 37-year-old Michael Essien visited FC Nordsjælland a couple of weeks ago for a week as inspiration for his ongoing coaching education. Here he got the opportunity to be part of the work around the Superliga team and several of the club’s academy teams, just as he got a better knowledge of the teaching and development of young people off the field in FCN.
“Now Essien will contribute himself, as he has agreed to become part of the club’s coaching team under Head Coach Flemming Pedersen in the coming season with the title Player Coach. Essien will thus be part of the coaching team in an assistant role at the same time as he can and will participate in the training sessions to implement the exercises in the best possible way and be able to contribute new input to the coaching team’s evaluations. He will have his first working day in Farum on 10 September.”
The sports manager of FC Nordsjaelland Jan Laursen, after the appointment of the Ghana legend said, “Michael was really an exciting and good acquaintance during his visit with us, and therefore we continued the dialogue with him afterwards. We could feel in him that he was also enthusiastic about the philosophy and the people he met here at FCN, and that the environment inspired him”
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“At the same time, we experienced through Michael up close how much it can contribute to having a member of the coaching team as an active part of the training environment among the players. We would very much like to develop more on that part, and we are very happy that a football and human capacity like Michael Essien will be part of the continued development of FC Nordsjælland.”
Flemming Pederson, who is the head coach of the Danish SuperLiga side also said, “We experienced Michael Essien as both curious and willing to learn among the coaches before and after the training sessions, but at the same time also contributing and rewarding among the players during the training itself”
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“His career and experience speak for themselves, but when you add his humble and rewarding personality, it is a unique opportunity for us to get someone into the coaching staff who can make our environment even more evolving for our players and while providing valuable input to the coaching staff and being our extended arm on the training ground. We are very much looking forward to having Michael on board.”
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