Italian giants Juventus are interested in bringing Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel to Serie A. The 24-year-old is the target of a £15 million bid from the Old Lady, according to reports in the Italian media. New Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas is said to be happy for the Nigerian international to leave at the price. Juve plan to team the Blues midfielder with veteran AC Milan star Andrea Pirlo. Mikel would play the role of defensive enforcer alongside the World Cup-winning playmaker. The sticking point for the Italian club could be Mikel's lack of an EU passport. Serie A sides are only allowed to sign one new non-EU player from a club outside Italian football, and signing Mikel could limit their transfer activity for the rest of the summer.
I wouldn't lose sleep over this especially with Ramieres and Essien both better and more dynamic in the holding role. That said, Obi is still young and playing a very demanding position so has room to improve. He just seems to make our midfield so pedestrian at times.
£15 million? bite their bloody hands off! He has no creativity and his total of one goal in all the years he's been with us is piss poor. Makelele wasn't exactly prolific but at least his passing was always spot on and his tackling seemed effortless and he scored two goals in less time. Essien, Ramires and Luiz would all do a better job in that position.
I'm gonna go against the tide and say we should keep him. Calm and composed on the ball, and great strength, something not many/if any of our players have.
Please sell him immediately. Can't remember the last time he passed the ball to one of our players. Completely agree with above.
I see the idiots are out in force today. In a season where we had remeirez coming up to speed, Lampard ill and passing sideways and essien treading water. Having a midfielder that stopped people trying to walk through the middle of our defence and just did a competant job in ensuring that we had the best defence in the league in an unsucessfull year, yep lets sell him!! Seriously what god damn games are you lot watching or are these boards filled with lots of Irish plastic's Mikel was one of Midfielders who actually managed a decent level of performance during the entire year. For the uniformed, "Holding Midfielder" which means no not making breaks up field, thats what what Lampard and Essien were supposed to do ! Christ just go back to supporting Man U!
Words fail me , seriously! Maka was never ever bought to score goals, his positon was to stop them, I suggest you go have a look at our defensive stats with him in the team and out of it . I suggest you do the same with Mikel, then I suggest you quite down!
A little bit harsh there. I don't think for a second that Mikel is a bad player but he does make our midfield very pedestrian at times and is always liable to get caught out now and again. A holding midfielder isn't just there to break up play (especially when playing weaker sides who rarely get the ball in the middle of the park against top sides) and he adds very little else. I don't think we expect breaks up field but to stop giving the ball away and make a pass over 10 yards would be a start. Essien and Lamps had poor seasons but there contribution has been far greater over the last 5 years so they deserve to be kept. I wouldn't definitely sell him but he wouldn't make my first 11.
I'm a season ticket holder and rarely miss a game and Mikel just isn't a top player. We have ambitions to be the best in England and Europe and Mikel isn't the sort of player that is going to help us achieve that. He can do a half decent job as a holding midfielder but he adds little else.
Maka wasn't bought to score goals? Thanks for clearing that up! There's me sat in the stands week after week wondering why the little striker wasn't hitting the back of the net and all along it turns out he's a holding midfielder! Can you post the link showing the stats with Maka and Mikel in and out of the team? There's a big reason why the holding role became known as the 'Makelele role' because he was a class player and he could quickly turn defence into attack which was the hall mark of the counter attacking days of Mourinho who named him player of the season in his first season. “Why put another layer of gold paint on the Bentley when you are losing the entire engine?” Zinedine Zidane, on Perez’s decision to sell Makelele and buy David Beckham
Thats not a half decent job, last season he was the only one doing a decent job for long periods! The reason he doesn't do much else was that he wa told by Carlo not to go forward but to back up the defence. Mikel for Chelsea and Mikel for Ghana are two different things. Sorry butgetting rid of someone we at least know for a fact can survive in a prem midfield and not go frigging missing is better than getting in another "Name"!
OK sorry I thought this was going to be another 606 witchhunt , my bad. Personally I think he was told to just stay there never go forward, thats essiens and Lampards job, but with those two going through bad periods, it like people were expecting him to do both jobs which is ridiculous. When he plays for ghana he does not do holdin like he does the chelsea much more dynamic. Comparing him in terms of contribuion to lamps is ridiculous, put it this way, how many decent tackles to break up attacks has lampard done in last 5 years?? exactly different roles. I agree he wont be always first team, but that will depend on the formation, with remires coming on faster , I think the one who will lose out this season is lampard, I think beakly is sucking his energy
