The captain of the senior national team of Nigeria John Obi Mikel is currently in Nigeria with his family as part of his end of season break after the conclusion of the league in China.
Mikel watched from the sidelines as his team Tianjin Teda survived the drop to the second division in China, no thanks to the injury which has also prevented him from representing Nigeria since their elimination at the group stages of the World Cup in Russia.
Nigeria powered their way through the qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Nations without their influential captain and seal their spot at next year tournament with a game to spare just like they did during the qualifiers for the World Cup.
For now unless Mikel secures a move away from China to a team in Europe, there’s every tendency of him quitting the Nigerian team before the start of the tournament in Cameroon next year, Owngoalnigeria.com can exclusively reveal.
The distance he normally covers to honour international call ups have had it’s tool on him and the spate of injuries he has battled the past three months is down to fatigue. Furthermore he want to be close to his family as his twin daughters are already schooling in the United Kingdom.
Although he still has a year to run on his deal with Tianjin Teda, he has a verbal agreement with the club that he will be allowed to leave when an offer from a team in Europe offer him a deal.
