Michael Essien will only join up with the Ghana squad two days before they begin their campaign for the 2010 Nations Cup, KickOffGhana.com can reveal.

The Chelsea ace is the only player yet to pitch camp with the Black Stars ahead of their first game against Togo on Monday and now it has emerged he will meet the rest of the team directly in Cabinda after plans for him join them in South Africa had been shelved.

Essien picked up a hamstring injury while playing in the Champions League for Chelsea in December. Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac is pinning a lot of his hopes on the player's recovery and says all is going well even though it is not yet guaranteed that Essien will play in the opening game especially when he would be joining up with the squad so late.

Rajevac told KickOffGhana.com: "We received a letter from Chelsea and he has finished his treatment. They suggested that he should stay with them for another two days with the club physio and do two days of training with the first team. So he would join us in Angola probably on Saturday."