Black Stars midfielder Michael Essien and his club mate at Chelsea, Ivorian Didier Drogba have been cleared by their club to fly down to Accra for the GLO-CAF awards on Thursday night.

The organizers of the awards, GLO had been keen on having all its nominees show up for the ceremony, with two jets put at the disposal of the players, one to fly in Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o Fils from Spain and the other for Essien and Drogba from London.

Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho had been concerned his players might not make the return journey in time for their Sunday premiership trip to Portsmouth and therefore sought firm assurances that the two players would return to the UK on Friday night at the latest.

Essien, Drogba and Eto’o are competing for the top award of Africa’s Footballer of the Year.