After all the speculations over where Nigeria international midfielder, John Obi Mikel, would be plying his football trade next season, he has finally announced that he would fight for his place at Barclays English Premier League club, Chelsea.
It would be recalled that Mikel lost his place in the Chelsea first team following the arrival of Serbian midfielder, Nemanja Matic in January.
It was speculated that the Nigerian will be leaving Stamford Bridge this summer for new pastures but Mikel has decisively moved to quash suck speculations.
Only John Terry and Petr Cech have spent more years in Chelsea than Mikel.
Though Didier Drogba initially signed for the Blues two years before Mikel, but having been away for a couple of years, the West African pair will both be beginning their ninth campaign at Stamford Bridge.
* John Obi Mikel
Speaking on his illustrious career with Chelsea at the weekend, Mikel told the club’s official website, www.chelseafc.com: “I’ve been in this team for a long time now. I came when I was 18 and I’m 27 now. Time flies.
“I’ve seen the good times and I’ve enjoyed the good times with this team. At the same time I’ve shared bad times with the likes of John Terry and Petr Cech. There have been lots of good times in the nine years I’ve been here. Whenever there was a bad one we’ve always come together as a team and we’ve always managed to turn it around.”
Chelsea have splashed the cash this summer with Cesc Fabregas, Felipe Luis and Diego Costa among the latest arrivals and Mikel is looking forward to integrating with the new stars and help Chelsea win silverware.
“The character and the belief that we have in this team, from the players that have been here a long time, I’m sure that will transform into the new players. It’s always a big pressure playing for this club. You always expect to win trophies every year so I’m sure the new players that have come in will help us win more trophies.
“They will know what representing this team is all about. Wearing the blue shirt and representing Chelsea is a privilege. I’m sure they will learn from us and we will be able to teach them one or two things,” he said.
Now he has returned to club duty the midfielder is already anticipating the start of the Premier League season. His mind is focused on one target in particular.
“It’s been five or six days now I’ve been training,” Mikel said. “I’m getting back up to speed. Training is going very well. It’s been tough but you need this to have a good pre-season, and then we can look forward to the season.
“Hopefully it will be a very successful one for the team. Everyone wants to achieve something. We want to win trophies. We didn’t do that last season but this season we are all hoping we can have a good season and win some trophies.”
It would be recalled that it was speculated some weeks ago that Mikel might be offloaded to the Serie A to play for Inter Milan.
With this latest development, it seems Mikel would be one of the experienced players coach Jose Mourinho wants to bank on to win his first trophy in his second spell in England.
The London club was without a trophy last season, a record that was unlike the Portuguese tactician when he first coached Chelsea.
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