By Obaloluwa Joshua, LAGOS
Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has revealed the reason behind his decision to convert John Mikel Obi to defensive midfielder during his managerial reign at the West London club.
Mourinho managed Chelsea twice in the past, first between 2004 and 2007 and 2013 and 2015.
The Portuguese signed Mikel for Chelsea in 2006.
Mikel, who was one of the best young playmakers in the world at that time was then converted to a defensive midfielder by the popular gaffer.
The 60-year-old provided the reason behind his action.
“I liked everything about Mikel. If you go through all the positional[defensive] midfield players that I have had during my career, there are lots of similar things,” Mourinho said on the ObiOne Podcast.
“Aside from Claude Makelele who was small, I had them all tall and physically strong. They also knew how to occupy space and they have what I call ‘the simplicity of football’, which is fundamental in that position.
“The team needs balance, with or without the ball. A defensive midfielder needs to be humble in the sense that they recognize that the team is more important than themselves. READ ALSO:
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“With me at Chelsea, Mikel was a fantastic positional midfield player, very quick thinking, one touch, two touch, everything was simple, and the game was flowing.
“He was not a guy to win a race of 100 meters, but everything was fast with him on the ball and he understood the situation of the game.”
