Mikel John Obi was underappreciated during his time at Chelsea and perhaps misused by Jose Mourinho. The Blues could use anyone with his range of talents right now.
Disclaimer – The word regista is not applicable to anyone who plays for or has ever played for Chelsea FC. It’s a term appropriate to the Italian game and has no place in the Premier League – unless, of course, you’re some kind of hipster intent on making a name for yourself on social media.
Long before Jorginho joined Chelsea during the tenure of Maurizio Sarri, Tottenham Hotspur’s current manager, what’s-his-name, should have made better use of one of Nigeria’s finest-ever players.
Mikel John Obi joined Chelsea in the summer of 2006. Off the back of two consecutive Premier League titles, the squad of players Mikel was joining was at the very top of their game. Jose Mourinho was in charge of the Blues and Mikel came in after a long, drawn out transfer saga involving his own Norwegian club, Lyn, and Manchester United.
During his time with Chelsea, Mikel, unfortunately, garnered little respect from the fanbase. He was regarded as the bolt on the garden gate that ultimately locked play down. The appearance of Mikel, generally from the substitutes’ bench, signalled the end of any attacking intent. He was Jose Mourinho’s defensive enforcer and chief bus parker.
Mikel was, however, misunderstood for what he could do as a footballer and vastly underrated.
Mikel’s finest hour in blue came long after the Portuguese one had left the club. His role in the Champions League win in Bayern Munich’s own yard was magnificent in its simplicity. As underdogs, it was deemed almost certain that Chelsea would lose to the German giants in the Allianz Arena. In a backs to the wall encounter, Chelsea, with Mikel in midfield, kept themselves in the game against the odds.
Rewinding seven years, though, it could all have been so different had it not been for Jose Mourinho.
Make no bones about it: Mourinho loved Mikel. Mourinho certainly didn’t wreck his career like certain others. However, the Nigerian international’s path could have taken another direction from the one Mourinho set him on.
Off the back of the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championships, Mikel was voted the competition’s second-best player to a youngster named Lionel Messi – whatever happened to him? – as Nigeria lost 2-1 to Argentina in the final.
Mikel’s role in that Nigerian team was a world away from the one Mourinho put into place and subsequently was developed by others. In 2010, Samson Siasia, Nigeria’s national coach claimed Chelsea had ruined Mikel’s potential of being a midfield playmaker.
"The system in Chelsea actually destroyed Mikel’s game. Mikel is an offensive player, but when he moved to Chelsea, they changed him because they had a better player offensive wise like Frank Lampard, who can score goals. – allAfrica"
Lampard was indeed in the side regularly. So, too, were Michael Essien and Michael Ballack. With Claude Makelele taking on defensive midfield duties, it was to Mikel’s credit that he got as much game time as he did. However, Siasia felt the Blues should have done better with and for his Nigerian charge.
"I don’t think he is playing in his natural position because we all saw what Mikel played in 2005 and everybody loved him for what he did, he can keep the ball and create chances for the strikers to score goals."
Mikel truly was a terrific servant for Chelsea Football Club. Ignorantly, we may not have realised it the time.
Who knows where he could have ended up had Jose Mourinho given him the creative licence to play forward rather than back?
At 32, he still plays professionally, currently with fellow Champions League hero, Eddie Newton, at Trabzonspor in Turkey. Whilst Chelsea’s current squad struggle to defend or park any form of transport in front of their goal, it’s fair to say Mikel’s a big miss. Whether he’d be a match up for our very own “playmaker” Jorginho, we’ll never know.
But the thought of one of Chelsea’s African stars spraying the ball around the pitch to the likes of Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou is a mouth-watering thought, to say the least.