Super Eagles captain, Mikel Obi, has admitted that he gave up his club career at Chelsea to play for Nigeria at the 2016 Olympics.
Reports had indicated at that time that then Chelsea manager, Antonio Conte, was unhappy at Mikel’s decision to play as one of the overage players for Nigeria at the games held in Brazil.
Mikel confirmed this in an interview posted on the YouTube page of the Nigerian senior mens football team.
“When the opportunity came out to either to go to Rio or play for Chelsea, I told Victor Moses because it was both of us, I was older, he is younger, he hasn’t played yet for the club, I said ‘you stay back, I will go, if I lose my place it’s fine’.
“Victor did, he stayed, I went, I came back, the managers never spoke to me again, didn’t put me in the team, then I said ‘okay fine’ and I left,” he said.
He said that the decision was taken out of the love and commitment he had for Nigeria.
Despite his exit at Chelsea, Mikel has enjoyed an illustrious football career with several awards including the Uefa Champions League, Uefa Europa League, two Premier League titles and three FA Cups among other trophies.
He last played for English side, Middlesborough, in the Championship.
