Former Super Eagles’ captain, John Mikel Obi is facing sluggish progress in his chances of joining Botafogo of Brazil due to his desire to get more than a salary offer of $100,000 that the club have tabled before him, megasportsarena.com reports.
Although all parties are keeping sealed lips on causes of the delay, feelers from The Samba Nation indicate that, while deliberations have already opened and are still ongoing, the matter of how much salary the former Chelsea star will collect is repeatedly posing a stumbling block in their talks
Although Mikel is currently clubless, after terminating his contract with Trabzonspor of Turkey in March, he is touting himself as a former UEFA Champions League and Europa League winner at Chelsea as well as former national team captain who won bronze medals at both the Olympics in 2016 and Africa Cup of Nations in 2019, hence his demand for higher pay from Botafogo,
Incidentally, Botafogo are not putting all their eggs in one basket, as the Brazilin Sere A giants are also said to be discussing with Ivory Coast’s former Barcelona and Manchester City star, Yaya Toure, who could step in to despoil Mel, should he accept the $100,000 per-month offer that has also been put before him by the club.
This much has been confirmed by the vice-president for finance and marketing and member in the governing board of Botafogo, Ricardo Rotenberg, who posited that Mikel currently rates better than Yaya in terms of technical ability and output on the pitch, but the Ivorian scores a more on counts of prestige and hype, because he pulls bigger followership and marketability.
“I talked last week with the two players and with their managers, too. Negotiations continue and only the salary part has not yet been settled. With Yaya we would gain a lot in terms of marketing and with the fans. With Mikel, the gain would be stronger on the pitch,” Rotenberg told ESPN Brazil.
