Former Super Eagles captain, John Mikel Obi has shot back into the spotlight of international football, following updated financial ratings of top players that put his overall assets value at $43m and makes him the sixth richest African soccer star of the moment, megasportsarena.com reports.
Mikel’s rating comes in spite of recent figures put Victor Osimhen as the costliest Nigerian and African transfer of all time, following his move to SSC Napoli of Italy from Lille Metropole of France, and Odion Jude Ighalo, who is on loan at Manchester United of England from Shanghai Shenhua of China, as the highest earning player from his country.
However, while Osimhen now has the costliest African transfer of all time, when bonuses and adds-on are included in his total package, and Ighalo is the biggest earning Nigerian in terms of monthly take-home, Mikel is reportedly to be the most valuable when overall earnings, assets, branding and endorsements are included in the calculations.
The report by South Africa sports media outfit, Soccer Laduma revealed that the former Plateau United of Jos, Lyn Oslo of Norway, Chelsea and Middlesbrough of England, Tianjin Teda of China and Trabzonspor of Turkey midfielder has a net worth of $43m.
Mikel’s valuation includes one Africa Cup of Nations trophy, three AFCON bronze medals and an Olympic Games bronze at national team level as well as two English Premier League titles, one each in the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Champions League, four FA Cups and two Community Shield during his club career at Chelsea, where he spent 11 glorious years.
He, however, falls way behind the top ranked African, who happens to be Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’O Fils with a net worth of $140m and second -placed former Chelsea pal, Didier Drogba at $98m, while Yaya Toure is third with $80m and fourth is Sheyi Emmanuel Adebayoor on $50m.
Fifth place goes to Mohammed Sallah ($48m), which puts Mikel ahead of Liverpool’s Sadio Mane as the seventh richest African player with a reported net worth value of about $38m, followed by Arsenal’s Pierre Aubameyang ($35m), Michael Essien ($32m) and Asamoah Gyan is tenth with $30m.
