John Obi Mikel has been on the fringes of the Chelsea squad for more than a couple of seasons now and like clockwork, every transfer window brings with it a Mikel to Turkish club report without fail. In Turkey, Mikel is highly sought after due to his strength and his ability to shut a game down as a defensive midfielder with a suggested fee of 5.7 million pounds.
The Nigerian international was the silver ball winner at the Under 20 FIFA World Cup of 2005 and was only behind Lionel Messi for the ultimate award. He plays as an attacking midfielder for his country where he is being given a licence to roam and has shone in this role for Nigeria over the years.
Mikel had been embroiled in controversy over his transfer to the Premier League from Lyn Oslo and had held aloft a Manchester United jersey just days before turning up in the Royal Blue for Chelsea who acquired him after a highly protracted transfer battle which wouldn’t look out of place in a Bond movie.
With only the solitary goal to his name in the Premier League and a career total of 6 goals in more than 350 appearances, it is safe to say that he is not prolific and underlines his deep lying role in the Chelsea team, often coming on as a substitute after the 80th minute to see out the lead held by the Blues. Even with more than 300 appearances for Chelsea, Mikel would not be a big loss for Chelsea in the dressing room.
Here’s Besiktas, another club from the Turkish league registering their possible interest in the player,
“If [Senol] Gunes had given the go-ahead we were going to sign Mikel [last summer], and we could enter the race again over the winter break,” Oman, the Besiktas chief said.
Chelsea are currently at 16th place in the league table and need to pull their season together. Over the course of season, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool will look for a Januay overhaul but none more than the reigning Champions. Chelsea are linked with several big names players and to create room for them, players like Mikel need to be sold.