With the club signing foreign strikers, they had to do away with one of the foreign players in the team to suit the Indonesian league policy.

Before the former Ghanaian star (Essien) was shown the exit door, the Bandung Tigers had signed Bogan Malisic, Oh In-Kyun and Ezechiel N’Douassel.

Also, Essien was not present during the presentation of the team to the fans on Saturday at Graha Persib.

“[Michael] Essien was not among the players we launched because we wanted to fulfil the PSSI regulation of four foreign players in a team” club official Zainuri Hasyim told journalists.

As is stands, the Champions League winner who scored five goals in 29 games for the team last season is likely to join Bali United.