Sports
FORMER Super Eagles captain and Middlesbrough captain, John Mikel Obi, 33, has made a comeback to English football and to another second-tier club Stoke City.
Obi who was a free agent having left Turkish side Trabzonspor by mutual consent in March.
Mikel made 249 Premier League appearances for Chelsea in his 11-year spell, which ended when he left Stamford Bridge in 2017.
He won the Champions League and Europa League, two Premier Leagues, three FA Cups and the League Cup during his time with the London club.
After leaving Chelsea, he joined Chinese side Tianjin TEDA and had a brief spell at Middlesbrough in 2019.
Stoke boss Michael O’Neill said: “I was really impressed with him when we met for the first time and he outlined what he wants from the next phase of his career.
“We spent four hours talking and he made it clear he wants to get back into the Premier League and finish his career there and hopefully he can do that with Stoke City.”
Mikel won 89 caps for Nigeria, playing in two World Cups and helping the Super Eagles win the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, before announcing his retirement from international football last summer.
The Championship side Stoke won three of their last four games in 2019-20 to pull away from relegation trouble and finished 15th under former Northern Ireland boss O’Neill.
BBCSport
– Aug. 17, 2020 @ 18:49 GMT |
Tags: John Mikel Obi Stoke City signs former Super Eagles captain
