SUPER Eagles skipper Mikel Obi has allayed fears that he has a personal spat with Chelsea manager Antonio Conte pointing out that his failure to secure a place in the side this season is not a punishment for him going to the Rio Olympics.
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 Chelsea's please to feature for Nigeria in the Olympic Games last summer. According to Mr Rohr, the new Chelsea manager is punishing Mikel for putting country before club and leading Nigeria to the Rio Olympics.
Fresh from leading the eagles to a 3-1 victory of Algeria in Uyo over the weekend, Mikel has, however, dampened speculation that he being benched as a punishment. Mikel said thew Chelsea manager supported him to feature at the Olympics and there is mutual respect between he, Mr Conte and the Nigeria national team.
Mikel added: “I’d like to clarify that the recent media claims that I’ve been punished by Chelsea FC for participating at the Rio 2016 Olympics are completely inaccurate. Unfortunately comments made by Gernot Rohr before the 3-1 win over Algeria were both mistranslated and taken out of context by the Nigerian media, as English isn’t Mr Rohr’s or much of the Nigerian media’s first language.
“To be absolutely clear, Mr Conte and Chelsea were always fully supportive of my captaincy of the Nigerian team at Rio. The manager gave me his full blessing to participate at the Olympics and even encouraged me to bring back the gold medal."
In the game at Uyo, Mikel scored Nigeria's second goal, capping off a fine performance and allaying fears that he is match rusty. With the World Cup qualifiers now out of the way until next year, Mikel said he now wants to focus on playing for his club.
“It goes without saying there is nothing but absolute respect between myself, the Nigerian national team and Chelsea FC, something that was demonstrated by Mr Rohr’s recent visit to Cobham. My only focus now is on winning more silverware with Chelsea and getting Nigeria to the 2018 World Cup, two challenges I can’t wait to face in the coming months,” Mikel added.
Over recent weeks, rumours has been rife that Mikel is likely to leave Chelsea in January when the transfer window opens. Several European clubs are believed to have enquired about his services already.
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