Super Eagles and Chelsea legend John Mikel Obi has opened up on his final season at Stamford Bridge under former Blues manager Antonio Conte.
John who made 33 appearances prior to the arrival of Conte in the summer of 2016 but played zero minutes under the Italian in his final days at Stamford Bridge.
While there were several assumptions as to why the defensive midfielder lost his place at the club, Mikel Obi decided to talk about it on Rio Ferdinand’s podcast to shed more light on the situation.
Speaking to Ferdinand, Mikel Obi said: “When Conte came in, myself and Victor Moses got invited to play for Nigeria at the 2016 Olympics.
“Conte made it clear that if we went to the Olympics, we would not be part of his plans for the season because he needed to think about the club.”
“After I came back from the tournament, Conte never spoke to me and sent me to train with the reserves, at that point I knew my time was up.”
With the arrival of French midfielder Ngolo Kante, the manager never seemed to miss Mikel Obi in his midfield as Chelsea went on to win the League with Ngolo Kante playing a vital role in the campaign
