Stoke City of England midfielder, John Mikel Obi has received a load of birthday greetings from far and wide, with some of the most emotional coming from his former teammates at Chelsea, megasportsarena.com reports.
Although Mikel has since played for Tianjin Teda of China, Middlesbrough of England and Trabzonspor of Turkey since leaving Stamford Bridge five years ago, the former Super Eagles’ star is still attracting attention from The Blues.
This is evident in how the London-based English Premier League club’s management led the spray of felicitations for their former midfield maestro, even as some of their greatest players also joined the array of goodwill messages.
Leading the spree for Chelsea’s legends were former captain of the side, John Terry and long-serving goalkeeper, Petr Čech, who splashed lofty words for ‘The Catalyst’ on his 34th birthday, amidst memories of how the former Eagles’ skipper was part of the Chelsea squads that made top marks years back.
Mikel was in the squads that won the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League titles once each as well as two EPL and League Cup diadems plus four English FA Cups, as he turned out to be a well-justified frenetic signing for The Blues, who paid Manchester United and Lyn Oslo of Norway compensation to sign him in 2006 after a bitter transfer dispute.
The defensive midfielder starred with The Blues for ten and a half seasons, totaling 372 games in all competitions and scored six goals, which the club’s media unit noted while celebrating him on social media and posted : “Have a great birthday, @Mikel_John_Obi! 🥳 #CFC #Chelsea.”
The post in honour of Mikel,who emerged Chelsea’s Young Player of the Year in his first season at Stamford Bridge, drew reactions from some of the club’s past stars, as Čech stated: “Happy birthday 🎂🥳@Mikel_John_Obi” and Terry added: “Happy Birthday @mikel_john_obi Love ya geez 💙.“
