Mikel hits out at Nigerian Journalists For Spreading False Information About His Chelsea Situation
Super Eagles captain John Mikel Obi has hit out at Nigerian journalists for spreading wrong information about his present Chelsea situation.
According to the widespread report gathered at the pre-match conference of the match between Nigeria and Algeria, Rohr was quoted to have said Mikel’s lack of playing time at Chelsea was due to his participation in Rio Olympic with the Nigeria U-23, but Mikel has denied the claim as the cause of his lack of minutes at Chelsea.
Nigeria skipper Mikel said in a statement that “Unfortunately comments made by Gernot Rohr before the 3-1 win over Algeria were both mistranslated and taken out of context by the Nigerian media, as English isn’t Mr Rohr’s or much of the Nigerian media’s first language.”
I would like to make a statement to clarify recent misinformation in the media about my playing at #Rio2016 and Chelsea: pic.twitter.com/hGOOGQAozd
— Mikel John Obi (@mikel_john_obi) November 13, 2016
“I’d like to clarify that the recent media claims that I’ve been punished by Chelsea FC for participating at the Rio 2016 Olympics are completely inaccurate,” read the statement. mikel Obi
“Unfortunately comments made by Gernot Rohr before the 3-1 win over Algeria were both mistranslated and taken out of context by the Nigerian media, as English isn’t Mr Rohr’s or much of the Nigerian media’s first language.
“To be absolutely clear, Mr Conte and Chelsea were always fully supportive of my captaincy of the Nigerian team at Rio. “The manager gave me his full blessing to participate at the Olympics, and even encouraged me to bring back the gold medal – something I spoke to the media about at the time.
“It goes without saying there is nothing but absolute respect between myself, the Nigerian national team and Chelsea FC, something that was demonstrated by Mr Rohr’s recent visit to Cobham.
“My only focus now is on winning more silverware with Chelsea and getting Nigeria to the 2018 World Cup, two challenges I can’t wait to face in the coming months.”
