MICHAEL ESSIEN was expected to play for Ghana against Senegal at Brentford’s Griffin Park ground last night but, given that he has been expected to sign for Chelsea on each of the past 63 days, it was perhaps no surprise that expectations were not met. The hot news is that the player is expected to join Chelsea for £26million today.

Essien’s international team-mates had still thought he might play as they prepared to leave the team hotel two hours before kick-off, but it was not to be. After his dispute with his French club, the midfield player has now declined to play for both Lyons and Ghana in the same month, so Chelsea will hope he rediscovers his appetite for kicking a ball when offered a blue shirt.

The same might be said for Ricardo Carvalho, the Portugal defender, who threw a tantrum after being omitted from the team that won 1-0 away to Wigan Athletic on Sunday.

Carvalho was a first-team regular last season, after following Jose Mourinho from FC Porto to Stamford Bridge for £20 million, but on Sunday Mourinho kept the team unchanged from the one that had beaten Arsenal in the FA Community Shield the weekend before, with William Gallas partnering John Terry in the centre of defence. Carvalho said: “I want to know why I didn’t play. I don’t understand it. Sincerely, I gave a lot of thought and time to myself but cannot find a valid explanation. It’s totally incomprehensible.

“I don’t understand why Mourinho said I have to wait for another opportunity to play this season. I don’t understand the reason he put me in a group including Robert Huth, Joe Cole and Tiago.”

Carvalho is also the highest-profile Chelsea player to offer a different view to the rave reviews of Mourinho given by players such as Frank Lampard and John Terry.

“At FC Porto I didn’t have an easy life with Mourinho, especially in the year he arrived, but in time I recovered my confidence and finished in a big way,” Carvalho said. “I don’t want an identical situation at Chelsea. I don’t believe I’m going to be third choice. The Premiership has begun and I will play many games, I have no doubt. It’s incomprehensible that I will become third choice.”