Mikel Obi Speaks for the First Time on Why Jose Mourinho Changed His Position to Defensive Midfield

• Mikel Obi has suggested that there were too many stars at Chelsea, and that was why he accepted to play the defensive midfield role
• The Nigerian international played for the English Premier League club between 2006 and 2017
• Mikel, who recently retired from professional football, stated that Mourinho preferred him in that position because of his level of confidence

Former Super Eagles captain Mikel Obi has opened up on how Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho changed his position to the defensive midfield.

The attacking midfielder joined the Premier League club Chelsea in 2006 under manager Mourinho, but he was later converted to the defensive midfield role.

The former Lyn of Oslo star was impactful upfront for the Norwegian outfit, but he admitted that Chelsea had quite a lot of talented superstars in the attacking midfield role.

He disclosed that the ‘Special One’ had a chat with him after some time, saying he preferred the Nigerian in the defensive midfield position.

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Quite a number of football fans, especially Nigerians, condemned the tactician, with many insinuating that he 'killed' Mikel’s career.

However, the 35-year-old, who recently retired from professional football, has stated that he agreed with the manager after a meeting.

Mikel said in viral footage on Twitter:

“No, he (Mourinho) didn’t destroy it. From growing up, I was creative, and everything ran through me, from the U17s, U20s, and U23s and everything I play in the national team, everything goes through me until I finished my international career. It was like that from Day 1 till the end, everything went through me."

“When I went to Chelsea, I had to step back a bit because there were so many big players, Michael Ballack, Makelele, Frank Lampard, John Terry, Didier Drogba, Geremi Njitap, so many big name players, and so I had to step back."

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“Obviously, there were many great football players at Chelsea, and we spoke about it. He’s like, I see you playing a lot more defensively because you don’t give the ball away too much.

“You’re very confident on the ball and I want to build my football from the back and I see you as someone who can do that. And we both decided that this is a good idea.”

Mourinho pays tribute to Karim Benzema over Ballon d’Or glory

Sports Brief earlier reported that Jose Mourinho has sent a glorious message to his former striker at Real Madrid, Karim Benzema, following his Ballon d'Or victory.

Benzema was finally rewarded with the highest individual gong in football following his exploits with Real Madrid last season.

The French striker led his club to La Liga and Champions League successes beating Sadio Mane, Robert Lewandowski, and Kevin De Bruyne to the 2022 prize.