Nigerian Captain and Chelsea anchor man , John Obi Mikel is been reported to be considering a transfer to La Liga outfit Valencia from the Premier League defending champions.
Mikel joined Chelsea in controversial circumstances in 2006 after his exploits in the Under-17 World Cup in the Netherlands, where he was the the tournaments Second Most Valuable Player behind Lionel Messi. Mikel led Nigeria to the final, where they were narrowly beaten by a Lionel Messi inspired Argentina. The former Lynn Oslo midfielder was said to have privately signed for Manchester United before having a change of heart , opting to sign for Chelsea instead (an accusation he still strongly denies). Chelsea were later forced to pay £16 million with £12 million going to Manchester United who agreed to terminate their option agreement with the player and £4 million to his Norwegian club (Lynn Oslo where he made only six league appearances before the move).
This season, Mikel did not see much action as former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho preferred a midfield pairing of Serbian Nemanja Matic and Spanish Cesc Fabregas . Mourinho was later sacked after a run of poor results in December and he left the West London club in the bottom half of the table before new interim manager Guus Hiddink restored Mikel to the starting line-up with Matic returning to the bench.
Valencia is offering around £4million for the player who turned 29 yesterday and is also the second longest-serving player in the club behind captain John Terry. Mikel has scored only one goal in the English Premier League in 236 league appearances.
Valencia have failed to replicate the success they had under Rafa Benitez who won La Liga and UEFA Cup. The club was taken over by Singaporean Billionaire Peter Lim who has splashed the cash to buy certain players with little or no success. After the sacking of Portugurse Nuno Spirito late last year who led them to a league top four finish in the 2014/2015 season and Champions League Group stages this season, former Manchester United and Sky Sports pundit (who had little or no prior experience in management) Gary Neville was appointed. Neville not only proved to be a rookie but also a disaster as he left the club last month as the manager with the worst win percentage in the clubs history.
It could be said that Mikel joined Chelsea with lots of promise but might depart having not fulfilled his promise though he won a good number of trophies.
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