Mikel Obi’s move to Chelsea was one of the most controversial in the history of football transfers. In his 10 years at Stamford Bridge, he had passed through seven coaches, winning virtually all laurels in club football, until the arrival of a “new king who did not know Joseph.” With the arrival of Antonio Conte, Obi has not enjoyed a starting line-up in competitive football for the Blues this season. With French and Chinese clubs beckoning, the winter transfer will most probably end the Super Eagles captain’s one decade with the West London club, writes Kunle Adewale
After leading Nigeria’s U-23 team to winning a bronze medal in the football event of the Rio Olympic Games, Mikel Obi was hoping to return to his London club with the aim of improving on his previous season with his new coach, Antonio Conte, but, it was not to be as the Nigerian was not in the Italian coach’s plan.
Making the reserve bench of Chelsea has been an almost impossible task for Obi; a situation Super Eagles Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr, was quick to attribute to Obi’s decision to join the Nigerian team to the Rio Olympics rather than his club mates in their pre-season preparation.
“Yes, maybe people will say the new manager was upset I left and went to the Olympics; that I didn’t have a pre-season with the team,” The Sun of London quoted the player as saying.
“He (Conte) probably thinks I don’t care about the team, things like that. But I don’t want to use those excuses. I have to keep training hard and make sure I change the manager’s mind. If not, then we’ll see what happens in January.”
Mikel added, “But, no, I would never swap my Olympic medal for a place back in the Chelsea team.
“One thing you have to do in life as a man is that when you make a decision, or a sacrifice, you have to deal with it. You have to stand by your decision. You have to live with it. I have not a single regret in going to the Olympics. And I will not trade my medal for anything.”
Mikel however denied Conte’s decision to leave him out of his team because he went to the Olympics against his wish, saying Rohr was misquoted as saying he was being punished at Chelsea because he travelled to Rio.
“I’d like to clarify that the recent media claims I’ve been punished by Chelsea for participating at the Rio 2016 Olympics are completely inaccurate,” he said.
In a chat with THISDAY, former Super Eagles player, Friday Ekpo urged Mikel to look beyond why he is being ignored by Conte.
“What should be paramount in Mikel’s mind is his future career. After winning everything with Chelsea, he does not have anything to lose if he decides to leave the club now.
However, I don’t think it is in the best interest of a national team captain to be a bench warmer in a club; it is therefore in his best interest to look elsewhere. With his game level, he can still play for top clubs in Europe,” Ekpo said.
Meanwhile, the management of Chelsea has announced that the club would not be renewing his contract when it expires at the end of the season.
Speculation has been rife that struggling French Ligue 1 side, Marseille, may have succeeded in convincing the out-of-favour Chelsea midfielder to shun big-money move to the Chinese Super League to help revive the club.
Former Los Angeles Dodgers owner, Frank McCourt, who bought Marseille in October, had promised to invest heavily in the January transfer window to help manager Rudi Garcia build a team that could be European champions.
Les Phoceens were ready to rescue Mikel from his Chelsea nightmare in the summer but the player’s reported £3.4m yearly salary reportedly aborted the move. But with McCourt ready to spend in January and Mikel yet to play a single game for Chelsea since the beginning of the season, Marseille might be a bailout for the 29-year-old.
Rohr indeed confirmed that Mikel was in talks with Marseille. “I saw him in London. He is in advanced discussions with Olympique Marseille, and the club is a serious option for him,” the German told Europe 1.
Chinese moneybags, Shanghai SIPG is reportedly offering Mikel £170,000 per week to move to Asia but Europe 1 believes the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations winner will move to Stade Velodrome next month as he will be a key player at Marseille.
Mikel has been at Chelsea for 10 years and has won the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, Champions League and Europa League in a trophy-laden spell at Stamford Bridge.
Born in Jos as John Michael Nchekwube Obinna, he started his official football career at the age of 12 when he was picked as a talented footballer from over 3,000 young talents to play in Pepsi Football Academy, a team that at the time was well known for travelling across Nigeria scouting for young footballers with the potential to play professionally. Obi stood out to scouts and was later picked to play for top-flight club, Plateau United.
Mikel started making headlines when he played at the FIFA U-17 World Championship in Finland, after which he went on to a trial at South Africa club, Ajax Cape Town, before joining Oslo-based club, Lyn Football in Norway.
In the summer of 2005, Mikel played for Nigeria at the FIFA World Youth Championships held in the Netherlands, where he had an excellent tournament and won the Silver Ball after being voted the tournament’s second-best player.
In April 2005, Manchester United announced that it had struck a deal with Lyn to sign the player. United’s website also claimed that they had done a deal directly with the teenager and that he had signed a contract to join them. Mikel’s agents were bypassed as the club persuaded the youngster to sign a four-year contract without representation. Lyn allegedly sent a fax to his agents abroad, claiming their services were no longer required by Mikel. Reports said the deal was initially worth £4 million, and would see the player arrive at Old Trafford in January 2006.
Manchester United’s rival, Chelsea, later issued a counter claim suggesting that they already had an agreement with Mikel and his agents, but Lyn denied this claim. However, subsequent reports indicated that Chelsea claimed to have been involved in arranging the player’s original move to Europe with a view to signing him at a later date.
Further substance was added to this claim after it was revealed that the player had impressed Chelsea then manager, Jose Mourinho, while training with the club’s first-team squad during the summer of 2004.
Mikel expressed his delight at joining United in a hastily arranged press conference, where he was pictured holding up a Manchester United shirt bearing the squad number 21. Following his signing of the contract to join United, there were claims from Norway that he had received a number of threatening phone calls from unknown sources. Mikel was assigned a security guard and moved to a safe hotel.
In May 2005, however, the midfielder went missing during a Norwegian Cup game against Klemetsrud; he had not been selected for the match but had been watching from the stands. Whilst the player was believed to have left with one of his agents, John Shittu, who had by now flown in to meet Mikel, his disappearance sparked massive media coverage in Norway and also provoked a police enquiry after claims that Mikel had been kidnapped.
It however subsequently emerged that Mikel had travelled to London with his agent John Shittu.
On 19 July 2006, Chelsea were granted a work permit for the midfielder after they completed the £16 million signing in June 2006.
As the romance with Chelsea seems to be coming to an end after a decade, it remains to be seen, where Obi’s next destination will be.
