MIKEL OBI: A fading star.

Ten years ago, there was no doubt even in the world’s mind that a star was born. The World Youth Championship (WYC) 2005 had heralded the birth of football’s brightest prospects. A star is born with all the rare attributes that distinguished football greats.

          John Mikel Obi was a shining star in the inexperienced Nigerian side that represented the largest country in Africa in the championship that took place in Netherlands. He wore the number 9 jersey and played like Jay Jay Okocha. Okocha is regarded as the best midfielder so far to play the attacking midfield role in the country. The country had sorely missed the skipper who mesmerised not only the Nigerian populace but his opponents as well. Someone said of Okocha, ”He is so good they named him twice”.

So when the country saw the eye-catching performances of Mikel Obi for the Nigerian team, they readily, if not instinctively likened him to Okocha. His vision, skill, hunger for goals was outstanding that premier league giants Manchester United and Chelsea were ready to part with a good sum of money to get his signature. He was certainly setting himself up to becoming football’s finest players.

          Nigeria went on to lose at the finals against Argentina with Lionel Messi scoring twice to win the tournament. Messi was the star of the tournament clinching the Golden boot and Golden ball award. Mikel on the other hand won the third best player award of the tournament. The revelation of the Jos-based player ameliorated our grief. An article written in 2012 in Goal.com by Ed Dove has this to say about him, ”Mikel began to blossom into an all-round midfielder-displaying intelligent ball retention, forceful tackling, and a certain guile that allows him distribute the ball creatively and effectively”. Mikel was the ideal ‘number 10’ the country was looking for.

Now the gulf has widened enormously between the two youth stars. This piece is not about whether Messi is better than Mikel (I think we all know who is). This piece is about how our expected saviour, has now become a forgotten item in the shelf of history.

    Today, our hero is languishing on the bench in Chelsea who were today crowned champions of England. I must admit that injuries have contributed to his gradual deterioration. Mikel has played just a handful of games this season with the blues. And his influence in the game and the club has waned drastically.

I think Nigerians should expect another saviour. I get mad when I hear people say that Mikel is playing for Chelsea which suggests that he is good. I say, Mikel is merely staying at Chelsea, and that, in my opinion is not good enough. He should not be scared of new challenges in teams like Tottenham, WestBrom and others. Mikel may have all the money, but he is certainly not Nigeria’s dearest anymore.

      Sequel to our painful ouster in the qualifiers, Nigeria was in dire need of a leader to rise to the occasion. Many hoped that Mikel was that leader. His play during the qualifiers was abysmal, even embellished with indifference. The midfield adopted the needless and purposeless long ball approach. Mikel slept on the ball and committed needless tackles; His corner-kicks and free-kicks were awful.

         The national team has witnessed the sudden rise of Ogenyi Onazi-the diminutive, passionate and hard-tackling midfielder who plies his trade with Lazio in Italy. His influence in the side is great, even indispensable. It was clear after he was taken off against France in the world cup after a ferocious tackle from Blaise Matuidi. Nigeria conceded two goals after some sloppy defending.

We cannot merely have a ‘big name’ in our team who plays with Chelsea and we are not seeing results. Nigeria did not qualify for the African Cup of Nations and I will even predict that they might not for the next edition.

        I think players like Awoniyi, Kelechi Ihenacho and Yahaya should be grafted into the team to send a message to the ‘indispensable’ players who are mere pretenders. After all players in the ilk of Mario Goetze, Paul Pogba, James Rodriguez, Toni Kroos have become the livewire in their sides.

What distinguishes great teams from the not-so-great teams is the ability to side line players who are surplus to requirements. Mikel is surplus to requirements in Chelsea; why the heck should he be saddled with the responsibility of leading our National team to great heights?

        Nigeria should expect nothing from the fading star. He used to be our saviour; to bring in the dazzle that once symbolised the play of the most populous African country. Now, he is just a faded star.