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| John Mikel Obi, Nigeria's National Football Player |
SUPER Eagles athlete in person of John Mikel Obi looks ready to join the Chinese Super League joining Tianjin Teda from Chelsea on a free transfer in a £140,000 ($173,432) deal after arriving in the city and undergoing a medical.
Since the start of the current campaign, Mikel has not featured at all for Chelsea and Super Eagles manager Gernot Rohr, has attributed it to his skipper shunning club boss Antonio Conte’s pleas to feature for Nigeria in the Olympic Games last summer. His lack of action has attracted the interested of several European clubs, with Marseille said to be the most keen to acquire Mikel.
Over recent weeks, it appeared that Valencia has signed Mikel after he agreed a four year deal with the club. Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho also signified an interest in signing the player he originally brought to Chelsea.
Keen to attract Mikel to boost the image of their league, Chinese clubside Shanghai Sipg had presented a $212,000 a week deal before Mikel’s agent. However, it appears that the midfielder will now sign for Tianjin Teda.
Mikel, who has failed to make a single appearance for Antonio Conte’s side this season, had a medical in the port city some 130km from Beijing yesterday and the Asian Football Confederation has confirmed the deal. After joining Chelsea in 2006, Mikel, 29, was part of a squad that won a Champions League crown, two Premier League titles and four FA Cups.
Chinese clubs have made several high-profile signings over the last month with Argentine striker Carlos Tevez moving to Shanghai Shenhua for a reported €84m ($87.65m). Less than a week later, Brazilian midfielder Oscar joined local rivals Shanghai SIPG from Chelsea in a deal believed to be worth €60m.
At the end of December, Cristiano Ronaldo’s agent said the player had turned down the chance to leave Real Madrid for an unnamed Chinese club for a transfer fee of €300m ($315.24m). Mikel joins Serbian midfielder Nemanja Gudelj, who moved to Tianjin from Dutch club Ajax yesterday.