Mikel John Obi

[The Skipper 20,593]

Mikel is waiting to get his British passport, then he'll move for a decent fee IMO.

Still would rather have him as a squad player over Romeu, who I do think is slightly overhyped on here.

[stroey 2,525]

Mikel is waiting to get his British passport, then he'll move for a decent fee IMO.

Still would rather have him as a squad player over Romeu, who I do think is slightly overhyped on here.

Exactly, Mikel is really underrated here. He's one of the best pure CDMs in the world. If you have a 4-3-3 midfield with Mikel als the holding midfielder, he's at his best.

[bababoom 4,478]

Exactly, Mikel is really underrated here. He's one of the best pure CDMs in the world. If you have a 4-3-3 midfield with Mikel als the holding midfielder, he's at his best.

I can go as far as to say he's a decent CDM, but one of the best? fucking hell mate, not even close.

[bababoom 4,478]

Mikel is waiting to get his British passport, then he'll move for a decent fee IMO.

Still would rather have him as a squad player over Romeu, who I do think is slightly overhyped on here.

He may be over hyped but i personally think his aggressive playing style would suit our high pressing. His passing is also very underrated.

Mikel is a decent defensive midfielder, he's reliable so in theory he'll be a good squad player, but for me I just think Romeu has the potential to fight for first team football.

[The Skipper 20,593]

He may be over hyped but i personally think his aggressive playing style would suit our high pressing. His passing is also very underrated.

Mikel is a decent defensive midfielder, he's reliable so in theory he'll be a good squad player, but for me I just think Romeu has the potential to fight for first team football.

I agree that he does have the scope to improve, hence why I said in the Romeu thread that it's better for him to go out on loan and get regular playing time rather than being a squad player like Mikel, who as of right now is a better squad player to have because of his experience and reliability.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Exactly, Mikel is really underrated here. He's one of the best pure CDMs in the world. If you have a 4-3-3 midfield with Mikel als the holding midfielder, he's at his best.

I wouldn't say one of the best but in a 3 man midfield as the anchor man, Mikel is certainly a good player there.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Exactly, Mikel is really underrated here. He's one of the best pure CDMs in the world. If you have a 4-3-3 midfield with Mikel als the holding midfielder, he's at his best.

The thing is how many 'pure cdms' are the actually playing at the moment? Most aren't as limited as Mikel, so in that sense he's one of the best of a small pool of mediocre players.

Teams simply don't use players like Mikel anymore.

[didierforever 7,349]

Emenalo re-signing him made sense because you'd have thought he would still have transfer value (or value to us as a squad member)...unfortunately that doesn't seem quite true.

I don't think jose wanted to sell him. If we had wanted to sell him, he would have been sold. I mean we sold ba, pva, lukaku, luiz for some excellent deals. Kakuta fetched as much as he could and I am sure bertrand would have been sold if we needed him to be.

Finding a club for mikel would have been no issue. But jose seems to rate him as out 2nd DM ahead of romeu, nat. So that should settle it.

[OneMoSalah 8,776]

The lack of respect for this player is unbelievable.

Exactly this is a guy who has won everything in England and Europe basically and has over 250 appearances here since he was 19 or 20 but yet there are some morons who think the 8 managers who have used him are stupid and know nothing about football.

[Spike 12,049]

A new day, a new season. He isn't going anywhere. Let's watch and see if he can regain form. I still have faith that he can unlike certain other players.

[zolayes 14,489]

in a tribute at the weekend to Sir Bobby Robson at Ipswich John Wark said .. Bobby always wanted his teams to play

attacking football . midfielders were told First look Forward then Square .... finally look back .

in other words the pass back is a last resort .. Mikel uses the opposite philosophy

[CHOULO19 24,332]

The thing is how many 'pure cdms' are the actually playing at the moment? Most aren't as limited as Mikel, so in that sense he's one of the best of a small pool of mediocre players.

Teams simply don't use players like Mikel anymore.

That's actually a fair point. The game has moved on a bit from the type of players like Mikel. Few team use a traditional anchor man. Carrick facing similar issues at united. But Mikel can still be valuable to the team. He showed that after we signed Matic last season. That is why he is staying.

[The only place to be 11,313]

That's actually a fair point. The game has moved on a bit from the type of players like Mikel. Few team use a traditional anchor man. Carrick facing similar issues at united. But Mikel can still be valuable to the team. He showed that after we signed Matic last season. That is why he is staying.

That was probably our fault for grooming him as the next Makelele when football moved away from that type of player. As a one-dimensional guy who can come on in the last 30 minutes of a game we're winning and kill the flow of the game he's probably fine....because he kills BOTH teams flow.

But as a proper replacement for Matic who might start games, urgh.

[Styles 9,790]

Mikel:

"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."

Teach them, Mikel.

Defensive midfielder. Teacher. Legend.

I hope he slaps every hater in here in the face with his British passport in a few months.

[happy_juan 64]

Did I read someone make the argument that if we could find a buyer for David Luiz, we won't have any trouble finding one for Mikel?

Bloody hell. How delusional are you guys? David Luiz was bought for 50 million. He was a hot commodity in the market.

Before last season as well, people were coming up with things like "Mourinho values Mikel", "Mikel will be the number one name on our team sheet", "Mikel is the top CDM in the world" etc etc.

He started less than one third games in Premier League last season. We bought a midfielder who was cup tied for champions league in january window to replace the "2nd best young player after messi in 2006". If that does not show how Mourinho rates Mikel then I am afraid these posters here should seek some medical help.

[happy_juan 64]

That's actually a fair point. The game has moved on a bit from the type of players like Mikel. Few team use a traditional anchor man. Carrick facing similar issues at united. But Mikel can still be valuable to the team. He showed that after we signed Matic last season. That is why he is staying.

He started 2 out of 15 PL games after we signed Matic. Sure shows how highly he is rated by his manager.

A self respecting player would have got the hint and tried to move but Mikel knows his salary demands won't be met elsewhere. and THAT is why he is staying.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

He started 2 out of 15 PL games after we signed Matic. Sure shows how highly he is rated by his manager.

A self respecting player would have got the hint and tried to move but Mikel knows his salary demands won't be met elsewhere. and THAT is why he is staying.

Yes, let's forget all the sub appearances and a MOTM performance in the CL semifinal...

And his wage demands? At least look it up before you say something like that. Mikel is one of our lowest paid established first team players at 75K/wk.

John has said countless times that he feels that he owes the club and hence will stay until the club does not want him anymore.

[Namika 922]

Why people are unhappy about him being Matic understudy ? He has shown lots of times that he can play at a high level, CL final, CL semi against Atletico, CL semi against Barcelona... He's a very good option to have in a CL campaign or in the big games.