What Mikel Obi Told His Chelsea Team Mates As He Leaves For An End Of Career Big Money Move To China

One of the longest serving member of the Chelsea family has just said goodbye to his team mates. John Mikel Obi who has spent 10 years at Chelsea after joining the club from Norwegian side FK Lyn for around £17m in July 2006 after the club had fended off interest from Manchester United for the defensive midfielder.

Mikel is reported to have signed a deal with £140,000-a-week with Tianjin, though neither Mikel's new employees or Chelsea disclosed the transfer fee that was agreed between the two parties for the Nigeria international, uk.yahoo.com reports.

Mikel became an integral part of Chelsea's midfield moving forward over the coming seasons, and won two Premier League titles, one Champions League trophy, four FA Cups, one Europa League trophy and two league Cups during his 10 year reign at Stamford Bridge. 

The arrival of Antonio Conte as manager in the summer was seen as a fresh start for Mikel after he has suffered an indifferent 2015/16 campaign. However, an injury on the eve of this season ruled him out of action for a few weeks and, upon his return to fitness, found his path to the first-team blocked by other squad members.

Conte's preferred midfield two of N'Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic, as well as Cesc Fabregas, ensured that Mikel did not make a single appearance under the Italian in his final six months with the four-time English league champions. In total, Mikel made 372 appearances during his time at Chelsea.

Mikel becomes the second Chelsea star to head to China in January, with Oscar opting to depart Stamford Bridge in a £52m move to Shanghai SIPG.

Here is the letter he wrote to his mates at the bridge;

Source;uk.yahoo.com