Even in a squad full of some of the finest youth prospects Ghanaian football has ever seen, 18-year-old Michael Essien still stood out.

Defensive midfielders, generally, do not catch the eye so easily, yet that was just what Essien — unplayable in his space and buzzing all over the pitch — did at the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship in Argentina.

He was, by the time that tournament kicked off, not quite a year into the business of playing at the base of a midfield, having been handed the role only that season by Bastia manager Robert Nouzaret, having failed to secure one of the rearguard slots that suited him more naturally during his debut year with the French club.

Essien quickly adjusted to the demands of the position and soon owned it; by the time he joined up with his U-20 colleagues for the football event referred to at the outset, he was well on his way to mastering it.

And that showed right from the off, with Essien capping a brilliant opening performance against Paraguay with one of Ghana's two match-winning goals. He would keep those standards up throughout the event, the beating heart of a Black Satellites team that went all the way, only losing to the hosts at the very end.

That, though, wasn't Essien's first taste of success in his country's colours.

It had come two years earlier, while still on the books of his boyhood club Liberty Professionals, when, as part of the Black Starlets, he won bronze at the FIFA U-17 World Championship. It was his excellence at that tournament in New Zealand which first brought Essien to Europe — almost landing him at Manchester United in 2000, but for work permit issues that, given his lack of senior experience, blocked the move.

When he finally secured his big transfer to England just four years later, joining Chelsea for an African and club record £24.4 million fee, there were  no such eligibility issues as Essien already was a full-fledged Ghana international on arrival.

He had made his bow for the Black Stars just a month after turning 20, but it wasn't until the mid-noughties that Essien — along with some of his teammates from the 2001 batch of Satellites — came into his own, inspiring the Black Stars quest for maiden FIFA World Cup qualification.

He got three goals during the qualifiers, including one to put victory beyond doubt in what was the most dreaded and most treacherous of Ghana's qualifying games — away to bogey side South Africa — but it was in midfield, alongside fellow stalwarts Stephen Appiah and Sulley Muntari, that his best assets and qualities were utilised as the Black Stars successfully booked a place at Germany 2006.

Essien, when available, was sure to start every game — but that was a luxury Ghanaians did not get to enjoy as often as they would have wished.

Especially from 2010 onwards, a  rarely fit Essien featured rather infrequently for the Black Stars, missing a number of major tournaments and barely partaking in some. With Essien sidelined for long stretches and a new [and slightly more successful] generation of U-20 players coming through during that period, his absence was felt far less sorely than it hitherto would have been.

He did return to the fold just as the Black Stars were getting themselves over the line to qualify for the 2014 World Cup, putting in a decent shift to help Ghana wrap up that ticket. At the Mundial itself in Brazil, though, Essien was restricted to the periphery, only coming on from the bench for a cameo in the second half of Ghana's first group game versus the USA.

That would be the last time Essien played for his nation, even if another four years would pass before he announced his retirement from national service after racking up just shy of 60 caps. Essien's relationship with the national team — and, by extension, with Ghanaians — was not always pleasant, fraught with tension and frustration on both sides.

A running accusation was that he was seldom fully committed to the cause, starting when many expressed doubts about whether a lack of fitness was really the reason he took a rain check on the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). Later imposing on himself an exile which would span the best part of three years only fueled public skepticism about his commitment – a charge he could never really shrug off no matter how hard he tried.

Yet Essien, too, had reasons — though he remains keen not to “hold any grudges” — to feel aggrieved. He may well have played better, and almost certainly longer, if not for a series of serious misfortunes encountered while on national assignments.

“Most of my bad injuries happened when I was playing for the Black Stars,” he points out, in an exclusive interview with Joy Sports aired last week.

The first was an anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered about 22 minutes into a World Cup qualifier away to Libya, followed by a medial ligament tear at the 2010 AFCON. It was after that second setback Essien decided to take a break ostensibly to properly recover from the cumulative effect of those injuries on his body and revive a flagging club career that had suffered as a direct consequence.

It wasn't all bleak, though, was it?

There were several great moments, such as his starring role during the aforementioned 2006 World Cup run, and, perhaps even more memorably, Essien's star turn at the 2008 AFCON.

That edition, hosted by Ghana, saw the Black Stars fail to win the title on home soil, but the third-place finish they ended up with was still the West Africans’ highest spot at the tournament for 16 years — and Essien had a great deal to do with it.

With skipper and midfield partner Appiah missing-in-action, Essien had to step up and bear even greater responsibility than before for Claude Le Roy's team. That he did, helping propel the side through the group stage, where he scored one of two goals against Morocco to round it off.

But it was in the knockout stage, specifically against quarter-final opponents Nigeria, that Essien really came to the fore and shone brightest.

The Black Stars had gone down a goal after 34 minutes and lost their main centre-back to a sending-off on the hour-mark, but a powerful Essien headed goal in-between — just the highlight of what was, quite possibly, his greatest showing on the international stage — provided the springboard for Ghana to complete a 2-1 comeback victory on the night.

Unsurprisingly, Essien describes that game as his favourite for Ghana, and the way he talks about facing Nigeria in general, you'd suspect they're his favourite international opponents, too. Indeed, as far as the Super Eagles, Ghana's arch-rivals, are concerned, Essien's record for the Black Stars stands is perfect.

“I never lost against Nigeria,” he states proudly. “If I’m on the pitch, [Ghana] don’t lose [to Nigeria].”

And, overall, he hopes he gave enough for his countrymen to look back on his contributions with some fondness.

“I think I am one of the few players to have gone through every age category, represented the country at those levels and succeeded, so I hope [Ghanaians] are [appreciative of my service].”

We are, Michael. We truly are.