John Obi-Mikel
Mikel came to England as one of the most highly rated young central midfielders in the world and many thought that the player would have a big future at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea fought a long and hard battle to sign Mikel, persuading the midfielder to come to Stamford Bridge and putting him off a move to Manchester United. The midfielder wasn’t cheap either and the Blues paid Lyn Oslo £17 million for the player, a lot of money for someone so young. It is fair to say that although Mikel has played in a lot of games for Chelsea, he hasn’t quite lived up to expectation.
He was seen as one of the next great defensive midfielders, the man to replace Claude Makelele in Chelsea’s midfield. Makelele was an important player in Mourinho’s early success at Chelsea, being a defence rock at the heart of the Blues midfield, meaning that creative players like Frank Lampard could get forward and score goals without having to worry about defending. Mikel hasn’t been able to replace the Frenchman and has been in and out of Chelsea’s first team. With Mourinho coming back to the club this summer and wanting to re-enforce the Blues midfield, it looks like Mikel could be on his way out of Stamford Bridge. Their are several possible destinations for Mikel this summer, with the front-runners thought to be Turkish club Galatasaray. It was thought that Mikel was keen to link up with former Chelsea front-man Didier Drogba and reports have suggested that the Ivorian is trying to persuade his former team-mate to join him at the Turkish giants.
However, big spending Monaco have now entered the race to sign Mikel and can offer the player much more money than the Turkish club can. Monaco have had a very busy summer already and have signed highly-rated striker Falaco from Atletico Madrid along with James Rodriguez and Joao Moutinho from Porto. The French club have signed all three players on big money moves and are looking to become a force again in French football having recently been promoted to Ligue 1. It appears that their next target is a defensive midfielder and Mikel has been one of the names that has been linked with the French club. It was thought that Galatasaray were close to signing Mikel but now Monaco have come in for the midfielder and have complicated things. Monaco have been linked with many players this summer so it could just be speculation but the French club certainly do have the money to offer Mikel the wages that he desires and will happily offer Chelsea the £16 million asking price. Galatasaray may need to act fast in order to complete the signing of the midfielder. One thing seems almost certain though and that is Mikel’s time at Stamford Bridge is almost up.