John Obi Mikel has become the latest
Chelsea
player to head to the Chinese Super League after announcing he is joining
Tianjin TEDA.
Oscar swapped Stamford Bridge for Shanghai SIPG in a £60million
deal earlier this week, and now Mikel has revealed he is heading in
the same direction following a 10-year stay at Chelsea.
The midfielder has made 374
appearances for Chelsea, winning 11 trophies along the way, but has struggled
to break into the side under Antonio Conte this season.
Tianjin TEDA have been courting
Mikel for some time, and it seems their £140,000-a-week offer was simply too
good to turn down.
Mikel has struggled to break into
the side this season ()
Mikel said in a statement: "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.
"With this in mind, I feel now
is the time to seek a new challenge.
Mikel and his then-Chelsea
team-mates celebrate with the Champions League trophy (Photo: Alex Livesey)
"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."
He added: To Mr Abramovich, the
club's staff, coaches, physios, and to the managers I played under at Chelsea,
I want to say 'thank you.'
"To everyone at Chelsea —
goodbye, and thank you. You will always be part of who I am, and I wish you the
best of luck. I could not be happier to be saying goodbye with the club back
where it belongs — top of the league."
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