Football
Super Eagles team captain
and Chelsea midfielder, John Mikel Obi has completed his transfer to Chinese
Super League side, Tianjin TEDA after undergoing a medical yesterday in the
port city some 130 kilometres from Beijing on Thursday/
The Asian Football
Confederation has therefore confirmed the deal on Friday.
Mikel's move comes on the
day China's leading sports governing body announces plans to cap the spending
of the country's super league clubs.
Mikel, 29, has been
offered a package worth around £140,000 per week to become the latest player to
swap Europe for the riches of Asia’s emerging football market.
Meanwhile, Nigeria
international Mikel penned a letter to his "Chelsea family" and
tweeted it to his followers on social media.
"To play in the
Premier League, the best league in the world, is every professional player's
ambition," said Mikel.
"But to play for
Chelsea, to become part of the Chelsea family, to work with some of the best
managers and players in the world, has truly been an honour...to everyone at
Chelsea - goodbye, and thank you. "
"You will always be
part of who I am.
"As you will know, I
haven't featured as much this season as I would have liked, and at 29 I still
have many years in the game ahead of me," he said.
"With this in mind, I
feel now is the time to seek a new challenge.
"I'm delighted to be
joining Tianjin TEDA FC in China, at a time that the Chinese Super League is
really taking off, and I look forward to helping Tianjin TEDA FC continue to
grow both on and off the pitch in the next few years."
Prior, the Nigeria
international held talks with Valencia, while Marseille and Inter Milan have
also shown interest, but Tianjin snatched him from other clubs.
Antonio Conte has not
included the midfielder in his plans this season, with Mikel out of the
first-team picture and behind N’Golo Kante, Nemanja Matic, Cesc Fabregas and
Nathaniel Chalobah in the pecking order.
He has continued to train
with the rest of the squad but a return to action at Stamford Bridge, where he
has spent 11 years, has long-looked unlikely.
Mikel won 11 trophies with
Chelsea during a spell at the club which consisted of 374 appearances.
Credit: Eurosports
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