Breaking: Chelsea Midfielder Announces He Is Leaving Stamford Bridge
Jan 7, 2017 at 4:34 PM
After spending over a decade at Stamford Bridge, John Obi Mikel has finally called time on his Chelsea career.
Mikel has made well over 350 appearances for the Blues over the last ten years but in a statement made on Friday morning, the Nigerian confirmed he had agreed to join the Chinese Super League revolution.
Since Antonio Conte took charge, the 29-year-old has not featured in any of Chelsea’s fixtures this season. It isn’t exactly the first time he has fallen out of favour at the club but it would appear to be the last.
As per The Mirror, the holding midfielder has accepted a wage packet believed to be in the region of £140,000-per-week from Tianjin TEDA.
Mikel posted a special heartfelt message to Blues fans on his official Twitter account and looked back at some of his fondest memories in west London.
You can read the full message below, as Mikel reflected on his debut in 2006, his first goal (of just five in total) vs Macclesfield in the FA Cup and of course, winning the Champions League amongst his other 11 trophies.
A letter to my Chelsea family. ?⚪️ pic.twitter.com/FhcUyq3iaV
— Mikel John Obi (@mikel_john_obi) January 6, 2017
“As you will know, I haven’t featured as much this season as I would have liked, and at 29 I still have many years in the game ahead of me,” Mikel wrote.
“With this in mind, I feel now is the time to seek a new challenge.
“I’m delighted to be joining Tianjin TEDA FC in China, at a time that the Chinese Super League is really taking off, and I look forward to helping Tianjin TEDA FC continue to grow both on and off the pitch in the next few years.
“To Mr Abramovich, the club’s staff, coaches, physios, and to the managers I played under at Chelsea, I want to say ‘thank you.’
“To everyone at Chelsea — goodbye, and thank you. You will always be part of who I am, and I wish you the best of luck. I could not be happier to be saying goodbye with the club back where it belongs — top of the league.”
Mikel is the second Chelsea star to jump ship and move to China this month after Oscar joined Shanghai SIPG last week.