Former Chelsea and Nigeria midfielder John Mikel Obi’s departure from Turkish super club Trabzonspor is no longer news.
During the week, Trabzonspor chairman Ahmet Agaoglu expressed the opinion that the Turkish football league should continue despite widespread international calls for its suspension to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
According to Agaoglu, halting the league could lead to an increase in divorce rates across Turkey. Mikel Obi, his former player, has now responded to Agaoglu’s claims.
Mikel terminated his contract with Trabzonspor this week after criticizing the club on social media for continuing matches when other European leagues had suspended football matches. The club chairman asked Mikel to delete his social media post, to which Mikel refused, ultimately leading to both parties agreeing to mutually part ways.
When asked to respond to Agaoglu’s comments, Mikel was quoted by the Guardian UK saying, “It just shows you how the thinking there is. I just have to be honest and be brutal with what I’m saying. It just shows that they don’t really care about human life. They don’t care about what is going on in the world. All they care about is how to win the league.”
He also mentioned, “The reason why I signed for Trabzonspor last summer was to win the league. I gave 100% in every game. But in this situation, where the world is facing such a difficult time, I didn’t feel that football should continue.”
Mikel was an unused substitute for the home game against Istanbul Basaksehir on Sunday, as the selection order came from the club president.
“The president told me: ‘I will tell the coach not to play you,’” Mikel says. “I said: ‘OK.’”
He added, “It was still a risk in terms of passing the virus on, with a lot of accredited people there, and I saw what was going on. It didn’t feel right. I just thought: ‘I don’t want to be part of this.’”
Thankfully, the Turkish FA has now agreed to stop the football season.