Obi Mikel reveals his involvement in a Osimhen - Chelsea deal
Reading Time: 3min | Mon. 09.09.24. | 19:59
Former Blues midfielder also denied claims that his countryman demanded high wages in London
Both the English and the Italian media paid a lot of attention to the failed transfer attempts between Napoli and Chelsea and Al-Ahli over Victor Osimhen. The Nigerian striker basically paid the price for allowing Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis to increase his release clause to over 100 million euros, which turned out to be too large sum to any club in the world. And while Al-Ahli deal was off since De Laurentiis tried to change the deal in order to get more money, the Chelsea deal apparently broke down due to Osimhen‘s big demands. But, there is one ex player who is strongly denying those claims.
Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel is the biggest free attorney Osimhen could ever get, and he stood by his teammate once again, regarding the failed transfer to Stamford Bridge. He also denied claims that the Galatasaray striker wanted a salary close to 500.000 pounds a week.
“I hear a lot of people saying this and saying that about Victor and and how greedy he is, blah, blah, blah. Take a pay cut and come to Chelsea' blah, blah, blah, stuff like that. I know the kid. I know the boy. I just want to say that that is absolutely not true. Victor is not a greedy boy. He's not a greedy guy, he only wants to get what he deserves and that's not a problem. He wasn't asking for all this b******t. I know what happened, I was in the midst of everything. So I can tell everybody that is definitely not true“ he spoke on his own Obi One Podcast.
In fact, Obi Mikel even got involved in the potential transfer, as he really wanted to see his former teammate and friend in Chelsea jersey.
“We were very, very close to getting this deal done, but it was just slight issues, slight little problems that we just couldn't get over the line. Both sides had to compromise. It was just some little things here and there, paperwork, medical, and few issues that we just couldn't get over the line. I was the guy right in the middle of everything. There were couple of days I didn't sleep. Thursday, I didn't sleep. On Friday, I didn't sleep. I'm here in Dubai, it's about three, four hours different, so I have to wait for phone calls, I think in the middle of the night. I know he really wanted to come to the club, because he still knows he has a lot to prove in Europe. He wants to come to Chelsea, he wants to come in and help the club to get back to where we should be. He knows he can score a lot of goals here in the Premier League, and what a what better place to do that than, you know, his childhood club, Chelsea” he assured fans.
