{"id":902486,"date":"2026-04-30T04:18:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T09:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/mikel-obi-ex-super-eagles-star-reveals-true-reason-behind-chelsea-exit\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T04:18:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T09:18:20","slug":"mikel-obi-ex-super-eagles-star-reveals-true-reason-behind-chelsea-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/mikel-obi-ex-super-eagles-star-reveals-true-reason-behind-chelsea-exit\/","title":{"rendered":"Mikel Obi: Ex-Super Eagles star reveals true reason behind Chelsea exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soccer <\/p>\n

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\"Soccer<\/p>\n

Mikel Obi. Copyright: Imago<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Former Super Eagles midfielder John Obi Mikel has opened up on the real reason behind his exit from Chelsea back in 2017,\u00a0Soccernet.ng<\/u><\/a>\u00a0reports.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 2013 AFCON winner joined the West London club in controversial circumstances in 2006, in a deal that also involved rivals Manchester United. He went on to spend 11\u00a0very successful years\u00a0in West London\u00a0before moving to Tianjin TEDA in the Chinese Super League.<\/p>\n

The former Nigerian midfielder ended his Chelsea career with 372 appearances across all competitions, winning 11 major trophies\u00a0and he left\u00a0in January 2017 after a mutual agreement with the club.<\/p>\n

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John Mikel Obi during an AFCON 2013 match for Nigeria. Photo by IMAGO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Former Super Eagles captain John Mikel Obi was a key part of the Chelsea squad\u00a0since his arrival at the club\u00a0until things took a turn following the arrival of Antonio Conte in the summer of 2016.<\/p>\n

The Italian had already signed French midfielder N’Golo Kant\u00e9 from Leicester City, adding serious competition\u00a0to\u00a0the team\u00a0and things\u00a0became even more complicated when Mikel, alongside compatriot Victor Moses, received a call-up to represent Nigeria\u00a0at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Brazil.<\/p>\n

However, the tournament clashed with pre-season and extended into the start of the 2016-17 season. Conte was against the decision, but Mikel chose to go ahead, which\u00a0ultimately contributed to his exile from the first team and eventual departure.<\/p>\n

Speaking during an episode of\u00a0Vibe with Five podcast<\/strong>, the former Nigerian midfielder explained how things unfolded under Conte and why he left in 2017.<\/p>\n

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Antonio Conte on the touchline at Napoli. Copyright: xIPAxSport\/ABACAxImago<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\u201cConte was the reason why I left. Once he came in, he was like\u00a0\u2018you\u2019re not playing anymore\u2019, then I left. Obviously when I saw Kante as well coming to the club I was like my time here is done\u201d,\u00a0Mikel Obi said.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cThe only reason I talked about was when he came in, I and Victor Moses got invited to go to the national team Olympics, so I had a conversation with the club and he (Conte) said I would not play for the club anymore if I decide to go. He said\u00a0\u2018I\u2019m a new manager and I\u2019m here, we need to think about the team and the club.\u2019\u00a0And he made it clear that my time was done if I decide to go.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

While Mikel was strongly advised against representing Nigeria at the tournament, he chose to honour the call-up,\u00a0which then contributed to his departure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cAnd I was like,\u00a0\u2018You know what? I\u2019ve been invited to represent the country at the Olympics.\u2019\u00a0And he was like,\u00a0\u2018Yeah, but if you go just know that your time here is done.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cI had a hard time when I came back. He never spoke to me and sent me to the reserve team where I was training, and I started training alone for a while, for like six months. I knew my time was done, and I remember there was a period when the team started playing really, really badly.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cThen he called me and told me about the club\u2019s performance and also asked if I wanted to come back. I declined because I had already made up my mind to leave anyway. I spoke to a few guys including Didier Drogba and he told me to find something new when things happen like it did\u201d,\u00a0Mikel Obi concluded.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Soccer
JOHN TERRY (L), John Mikel Obi in action for Chelsea [Photo credit\/Imago]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mikel Obi captained Nigeria to a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games,\u00a0as they made\u00a0history by becoming the first\u00a0country\u00a0to win all three Olympic football medals (gold, silver and bronze).<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, he went on to play for\u00a0the likes of\u00a0Middlesbrough, Trabzonspor\u00a0and Stoke City,\u00a0before announcing his retirement\u00a0from football in\u00a02022.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"<!--Ayomide Oguntimehin” src=”https:\/\/soccernet.ng\/thumbor\/ycGEJDr9VZlpO_5zujn3ZdvICxA=\/150×150\/smart\/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.soccernet.ng%2Fmain%2F2024%2F12%2FAyomide-Oguntimehin-pics.jpg” height=”80″ width=”80″>\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tAyomide Oguntimehin\t\t\t\t<\/a>
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\n\t\t\t\tAyomide Oguntimehin is a CAF-accredited sports journalist and Chief Editor at Soccernet.ng. He has interviewed Super Eagles stars like William Troost-Ekong, Taiwo Awoniyi, Bright Osayi-Samuel, and Ademola Lookman, and is known for breaking major transfer stories.<\/p>\n

Ayomide has worked with Sports Brief, Naija News and served as Social Lead Editor at Legit.ng. He has also featured on Goal, TVC News, Sports Mole, and Milan News24. He holds a Master\u2019s degree and is currently pursuing a PhD. Follow Ayomide on X (formerly Twitter): @ayo_oguntimehin\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>Ayomide Oguntimehin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soccer Mikel Obi. Copyright: Imago Former Super Eagles midfielder John Obi Mikel has opened up on the real reason behind his exit from Chelsea back in 2017,\u00a0Soccernet.ng\u00a0reports. The 2013 AFCON winner joined the West London club in controversial circumstances in 2006, in a deal that also involved rivals Manchester United. He went on to spend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":902487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[129287,35787,2005],"tags":[129286,84170],"class_list":["post-902486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ex-super","category-mikel","category-soccer","tag-ex-super","tag-mikel"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=902486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/902487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=902486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=902486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=902486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}