Roberto Di Matteo confirms a possible Essien loan

All day we've been hearing conflicting reports about Chelsea's Michael Essien, and finally we have one that claims to have an actual source. That source? Roberto Di Matteo of all people. He'd certainly be in the know, so I'll take this at face value:

RDM admits there is a loan move for Essien on the table and that is he reason for leaving him out of tonight's #CFC squad.

— Matt Lewis (@mattlewis27) August 31, 2012

That would seem to confirm that the club is at least considering sending Michael Essien to Arsenal on loan, and I'm sure that most fans aren't overly happy with that. I'd personally be surprised if we were considering this without adding another central midfielder, even more so after we sent Nathaniel Chalobah on loan earlier today. There's only three and a half hours left in the window, so we'll certainly know soon. I really don't want to ever see Essien in a gunner's kit though, and I'm sure I'm not alone. There will certainly be more to come, stay tuned...