Finding Michael Essien

IT WASN’T quite a ‘Dr Livingstone, I presume’ moment, but when the cocoa exporter walked across the dusty courtyard of the factory floor and introduced himself, it was up there with that famous moment of truth, at least for this writer.

“Hello, I am Stanley Quaye.”

This humble football coach, whose daytime job is supervising the export of cocoa from this west African country is the same man whose perceptive eye recognised the incipient talent that was to develop into the soccer genius that is one of the top midfielders in world football: Michael Essien.