Mikel John Obi: 'Players were scared. I thought, I don’t want to be part of this' - MW

Mikel John Obi laughs. He has not heard the comments of Trabzonspor president Ahmet Agaoglu so far and it is difficult for him to hide his skepticism. Agaoglu, whose club heads the Turkish Superlig and continues his first championship since 1984, clung to his soap box last Sunday to explain why he feels See the show must go on.

The vast majority of football competitions across Europe stopped working before the coronavirus pandemic, but Superlig played behind closed doors last week before agreeing to drop Thursday afternoon and suspend.

Football is one thing in Turkey that allows people to get rid of stress, to entertain and to occupy their minds, '' Agaoglu said. If they suspend the tournament for a long time, for a month from now, won would have had enough judges to rule all divorce cases.

Mikel took a deep breath. And then he unloaded. This is just to show you how it thinks, he said. I just need to be honest and brutal with what I say. It just shows that they don't really care about human life. They do not care what is happening in the world. All they care about is how to win the tournament. The reason why I signed with Trabzonspor last summer was to win the tournament. I have given 100% in every game. But in this situation where the world is facing such a difficult time, I felt that football should continue.

Reportedly, the Turkish government agreed with Mikel. Schools and universities in the country have ceased operations and flights to many countries have been stopped but it seems there is a will to keep football going behind closed doors, even if it is not divided. shared - according to Mikel - by many players.

For the time being, common sense has prevailed, although it should not overshadow the boldness of the stance that Mikel has taken - something that, for the time being, has cost the former Chelsea midfielder at a cost. . Perhaps, it was a position that went a little way to pressure the Turkish football federation to bow to the inevitable.

Mikel's contract with Trabzonspor will be made until the summer of 2021, with the option of one more year, but he gave it up on Tuesday because, in his opinion, money and career security. at a negligible 32 against his girlfriend and two twin four-year-old daughters in London and, in a broader sense, to do what he feels is right.

Mikel objected to the Superlig matches, going behind the closed door, believing it was contrary to the instructions for most people at home, and he said so in a post on his Instagram page on Six weeks ago. It was a reminder for a tornado, when everything turned 180 degrees in a minute to quote Mikel, and the battles were drawn between Agaoglu and himself.

Agaoglu was furious and he told Trabzonspor secretary to call Mikel and ask him to delete the post, according to the player. Mikel refused. They are: ‘You should say, we are in the process of becoming a champion, you have to take it down. I said: I don't take my writing down. This is my opinion. The world is going through this turbulent time, a scary time. You should wake up.

Offer a face-to-face meeting between Agaoglu and Mikel, with the same needs and the same reaction. This time Mikel said that the club president had posed a threat. He told me that if I didn't play cards, I wouldn't play until the end of the season, Mikel said. I said, ‘OK, if that's what you guys think, I'm ready to stand in front of what I say and take it.

Mikel was the unused substitute for the home game against Istanbul Basaksehir on Sunday, with the selection order going down from the start. The chairman told me: I will tell the coach not to play friends, he charged straight Mikel said. I said: ‘OK.

A brief regression. According to Mikel, the closing game is very bizarre and edgy, and, as regulators try to figure out how to end the seasons, this option will come with lots of chains.

This is still a risk in transmitting the virus, with so many people recognized there, and I've seen what's going on, I'm sitting on the bench, Mr. Mik Mikel said. Without motivation, the players are scared. No handshake. It does not feel right. I just thought: I don't want to be a part of this.

Spool moved to Tuesday when the Turkish federation met to consider whether to suspend the competition or not. Mikel said, earlier, a rumor had surfaced around Trabzonspor that even if the competition was temporarily stopped, foreign players would not be allowed to go home to their families. That's because Turkey feels the safest place, Mikel said.

When the federation later declared that the matches would continue to be played behind closed doors, Mikel knew what to do. He could see a nightmare scenario in which travel restrictions meant he would have to stay in Turkey for months and months, outside the family, and so he called representatives of yourself to devise a withdrawal strategy.