Former PSG, Real Madrid French midfielder, currently a youth coach and technical mentor at Chelsea, Claudio Makelele has saluted Mikel’ s pivotal contribution to Chelsea’s success over the years including the Famous Bayern Munich UCL comeback night in 2012.
“I think Chelsea fans will remember John Mikel Obi for many years, like me, Essien and Ballack. He played in a different way but the heart he had was the heart of a Chelsea player”, Makelele lauded.
“When Obi started, on the training ground sometimes we had two teams, with me and Michael Ballack facing him, and I think he learned a lot from us as we had the experience. He improved in the Premier League after that.”
Makelele continued: “When he was young, he needed to show he can play & score. Maybe he lost a little this kind of need and became more a team-mate that makes other team-mates play. He started to learn this in the Champions League to stay in the middle and fight, and I think he enjoyed it”.
