Turkish side Galatasaray have tabled a £10 million bid for Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel according to recent reports.
The 26-year-old is yet to feature for Jose Mourinho’s side this season and there had been some speculation over his future throughout the summer, so it wouldn’t be a major shock if he did move on.
talkSPORT report that Galatasaray want to reunite Mikel with his former Chelsea team mate Didier Drogba and believe the aforementioned figure of £10 million should be enough, which is twice the amount that Napoli were going to offer in the stories that were doing the rounds last week.
Mikel has been with the Blues since 2006 and his contribution to the team has been understated since then and he has often been a scapegoat. He arrived at the club with a reputation as one of the most exciting young players in football but was never really given the chance to play his preferred role for Chelsea and became a holding midfielder instead.
It’s not a glamorous role which is probably why the dominant view is that he’s not very good. I’m not comparing players as the player I’m about to mention defines the defensive midfield role, but the Real Madrid fans and president didn’t believe Claude Makelele did anything either. Mikel isn’t perfect, in fact he’s a little slow and can sometimes be a little immobile but he’s economic with the ball, values possession, is composed and has the sort of tactical awareness that Mourinho admires.
Ramires has been impressive during the first two matches this season and Marco van Ginkel is another impressive box-to-box midfielder, yet Mikel remains the only natural holding player in the team and I know that I may be in the minority but I would not want to see him go.
He’s still only 26 but has won a Premier League, four FA Cups, a League Cup, Champions League and Europa League, as well as winning the African Cup of Nations with Nigeria. He’s worked with Jose Mourinho, Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti amongst others and all have seen value in him as a player, it would also cost us a lot more than £10 million to sufficiently replace him.
Mikel was poor last season, especially after the winter and no one appreciated his comments about the Europa League, but I think Mourinho can get a new lease of life from him and he’s still many years ahead.
Source: talkSPORTS
I think this is the right time for him to level ChelseaFC.