Essien on Marriage to Akosua Puni

Michael Essien, the Ghana International who plays for Real Madrid, has denied widespread media reports that he would be getting married to celebrity publicist Akosua Puni and that the lady was already carrying his baby.

Reports spread fast through online media Monday that Essien was to have married Akosua at a secret location in London but had to postpone the ceremony because of the rescheduled match between Real Madrid and Rayo Vallecano. But the footballer’s representatives have vehemently denied the report, describing it as an absolute untruth.

A Real Madrid twitter who has some credibility was said to have tweeted that Essien was getting married but the eleventh hour rescheduling of the match had made him to postpone the wedding.

But Essen’s representatives insisted the footballer was not getting married anytime soon. “We represent Michael Essien and the story you have tweeted that he is getting married today is completely untrue,” Sport PR Company in London tweeted back to @RMadridinfo.“No wedding ever scheduled for today or any other day,” Caroline MCAteer, the head of Sports PR Company, added. 

Soon after news went round that Essien was getting married in London, several media reports mentioned Akosua Puni as being the lucky lady the soccer star was getting married to.

Already, there were unsubstantiated reports in the media that Akosua was pregnant for Essien. Both of them have simply ignored the report and have neither confirmed nor denied until this new reports of a supposed secret marriage started making the rounds.

It is beginning to seem that Essien may be having as many girlfriends (or female admirers) as the number of goals in his golden boots.

Among names that have popped up as damsels who allegedly had a thing or two to do with the soccer star are Cassie Sumner, Lurata Murati (both British models), Leila Beiruthy (shop worker), Nadia Buari (Ghanaian movie star), and of course, Veralie Dela Ackumey (a final-year law student who may have graduated by now).

Interestingly, apart from Leila and Cassie, all the rest had at one time or the other been reported to have claimed they did not get the desired attention from the star. In fact, some bluntly said he had cheated on them.

British Model Lurata Murati got mad after she realized the Ghanaian footballer was having a secret affair with Cassie Summer, another model, whilst he was still dating her, saying she was sick and tired of the insincerity.

In 2006, she told a British Tabloid: “I can’t believe I’ve been sleeping with this man who was happy to see such a trollop. He thinks because he is this big football hero he can treat women with contempt. “To be honest, I’m glad I found out about this to her woman, otherwise he would have been stringing me along for ages. At the end of the day, I’m better off without him. He’s just another big-time footballer who thinks he can have whoever he wants without ever worrying about the consequences. Now I just want to put Michael Essien out of my life.”

All these happened two weeks after he had reportedly dumped her for Cassie Sumner. She said Essien had ditched her after she discovered he was cheating on her. But the worst of all accusations came from Dela, who alleged the footballer had cheated on her over 50 times.

In an interview with News of the World, she contended: “He had lied through his teeth to cover up what went on between us. He may be a successful footballer, but as a person, he is a failure. He cheated on me so many times-more than 50.”

Dela told the British newspaper: “Michael spent a lot of time on the internet and I later discovered he was using a dating website called highfive.com and other more pornographic ones. He would call to say he had something important to do with one of the other Chelsea stars. It was the perfect cover for Michael to meet other women.”

But in spite of all these allegations, many of his Ghanaian fans think the claims are too wild to be true, saying, the media-shy footballer is only being blackmailed because of his fame and cash.