It is more or less confirmed now that Chelsea veteran John Obi Mikel will be on his way out of the Premier league. The 29-year-old hasn’t been in manager Antonio Conte’s plans since the start of the season and with big offers coming from China, Chelsea are more than likely to dispose him and bring new players.
In fact, Mikel’s agent John Shittu has revealed that the Nigerian midfielder could follow in the footsteps of his former teammate Oscar. Although there has been interest from other European clubs from Italy, Britain and Spain with Inter Milan one of them, Mikel now seems likely to head to the Far East.
In an interview with Sun Sport, Shittu said, “It’s very likely he will leave Chelsea in January. There are many teams interested in the player. In the past, we spoke with Inter Milan but now there are a lot of Italian clubs that want him. I will not reveal the names, but there are other Italians teams on his trail. And beware: even in UK, Spain, Germany and even in China know the value of the player and requested information about him.”
Hakan Calhanoglu- The Turkish international’s current price range is in the region of £17m as quoted by Turkish publication HaberTurk. It was also said that the Turkish manager Fatih Terim has stated his consent on the player leaving for the English giants.
He has appeared 17 times for Bayer Leverkusen so far, scoring 5 times and assisting 6 times. Although an attacking minded player, Calhanoglu could be a real threat from the centre and when placed alongside the tremendous N’Golo Kanté, he could be immensely impactful.
Calhanoglu has expressed his intentions to stay with his current club and improve under the head coach Roger Schmidt, but Leverkusen could be compelled to do business if a decent offer comes their way.
Radja Nainggolan- The Italian boss has been an ardent admirer of the Belgium international and rumours have long done the rounds that the 28-year-old-midfielder is one of Chelsea’s main targets. Although Nainggolan has refused a move to Stamford Bridge, it will be difficult to find a midfielder reminiscent of his quality, hence Conte is more likely to push for him.
Nainggolan has scored four goals this season so far, creating 23 chances and one assist. He has completed 507 passes this season with a pass accuracy of 79%, of which 77% were forward passes.
Steven N’Zonzi- He moved to Sevilla for a surprising fee of £7m last summer. But, since then, the defensive minded midfield player has grown in stature becoming a hot target for most clubs in Europe. He has scored two goals this season, creating seven chances and one assist. N’Zonzi has completed 950 passes this season with a pass accuracy of 89%, of which 73% were forward passes.
Given his tremendous Premier League experience with Blackburn and Stoke City, he could be a brilliant addition for Conte. N’Zonzi has a release clause of £20m in his Sevilla contract and Chelsea can easily meet that.
