Chelsea great Alan Hudson has insisted that that time has come for Jose Mourinho to sell under-performing midfielder John Obi Mikel.
The Nigeria international has found himself playing fairly regularly for the Pensioners in recent weeks following the gross under-performance of first-choice midfield pair Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic.
However, Mikel has failed to impress and it’s perhaps little coincidence that some of his appearances for the Blues have coincided with their poorest results of the campaign.
Mikel was started in the 3-1 loss to Everton, the 2-1 away defeat to FC Porto in the Champions League, the Capital One Cup elimination at the hands of Stoke City and last weekend’s 3-1 loss at Liverpool.
He also featured for 45 minutes in the Blues’ 2-1 loss away at West Ham United.
Hudson, who began his career with Chelsea, and played there for six years, believes that sub-par players like Mikel and underperforming striker Diego Costa are the chief reason why the West Londonders are struggling this season.
“I think they need a facelift. You can’t carry on with players like John Obi Mikel, you need better players than that in midfield,” Hudson told Reuters.
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“They need a clearout of players. Branislav Ivanovic has been tremendous for them but he seems to have hit a brick wall at right back.”
“When they bought Pedro from Barcelona at the start of the season I thought it would give Chelsea more width, with him on one side and Eden Hazard on the other, and they would open their game out a bit.
“They play through the middle too much and rely on Diego Costa up front too much. Costa, in my opinion, is nowhere near as good as people make him out to be.”