Despite not making a single appearance for Chelsea since Antonio Conte took over as manager in the summer, John Obi Mikel remains Nigeria’s captain, and is a regular for his country.
Not even on the bench, the 29-year-old defensive midfielder’s only chances to get on the pitch are on Nigeria international duty, with whom he won the Olympic Bronze in Brazil over the summer, helping the U23s overcome Honduras in a 3-2 win, picking up all three assists for his team’s goals.
The reason behind Mikel’s absence from Chelsea’s plans has remained a mystery, but Gernot Rohr, Nigeria’s Technical Advisor, believes their captain is being ‘punished’ by the Italian manager.
Speaking in a press conference, relayed by SuperSport, he said: “I spoke about this with Mikel and the club’s technical director (Michael Emenalo). Mikel is training very well and he plays games in training with the big players at Chelsea.
“There is a reason why Mikel is not playing for Chelsea right now and that reason is because he played for Nigeria at the (2016) Olympics. He was punished for that (by Conte).”
Going onto explain there was no chance he could punish a player for loving his country and wanting to help them achieve success, Rohr also appeared to suggest the midfielder would be a starter against Algeria in the upcoming World Cup qualifier.
A win against Riyad Mahrez’s team would see the Super Eagles consolidate first place in Group B of the African qualifiers, having previously overcome Zambia 2-1 during the last international break.
