If John Mikel Obi, the former captain of the Super Eagles, had heeded the advice of his former agent John Shittu and refrained from signing with Tianjin Teda in the 2017 Chinese Super League, he could still be playing football today.
The Nigerian international, who spent more than a decade at Chelsea, signed a free transfer contract with the Chinese team and was reportedly paid £140,000 per week. However, a year before the contract between him and the club was about to expire, he cancelled it and went back to England to sign with Middlesbrough.
Mikel announced his retirement from professional football last year, but Shittu recently told journalists in Abuja that if Mikel had heeded his advice not to move to China, he would still be playing in England today. He pleaded with the Nigerian athletes currently excelling at their clubs not to succumb to the games of a management or agent looking to capitalise on them by having them jump around.
“My biggest advice is always to the players because they themselve are not very reliable, they want to cut corners.
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“Mikel and I had a lot of disagreements but in most cases I stood my ground with a lot of advice and that was why in Nigeria today he was a world class representative of this country. Though he has retired, you could see that a young boy has grown up to be a real man.
“Some of the players doing well now need to be careful, and not just jumping around. They shouldn’t feel because they are at the top now that they need to move. They should make sure everything is well thought out because we have seen a lot of players who are kings in their clubs and for one reason or the other the manager or agent wants to cash out quickly, remove them from the club to where they will become just ordinary players. Look at Eden Hazard today from Chelsea to Real Madrid. Does he need to move from Chelsea at that time he moved?
“Even my own player, Mikel Obi, when went to China, he was not supposed to go. I was against him moving to China and he could have possibly still been playing football in England till today,” Shittu said.
