Izuchukwu Okosi
On the occasion of his 35th birthday today (22 April 2022), Chelsea legend John Obi Mikel has little to be excited about in terms of his rewards in the game.
The former Chelsea star had found himself only good enough for the Asian leagues where his admires come from.
Mikel ‘s transfer values as updated by Transfermarkt indicate that he is now rated at 300,000 euros – the lowest valuation in his entire career to date.
And it is the fourth consecutive update that Mikel’s valuation has fallen; he was previously valued at €1.2m, €1m, €600,000 on March 10, 2021, June 30, 2021 and October 28, 2021 respectively
The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations winner for Nigeria’s Super Eagles is currently unemployed having ended his association with Kuwait SC in November.
Mikel, according to a young Nigerian football scout cum agent sometime last year, failed on a pre agreed contract to reward the Nigerian who recommended him to his last team as he went ahead to sidetrack him to negotiate contract with the club.
The former Super Eagles and Chelsea icon reached his highest market value of €23m on January 28, 2013.
Meanwhile, ex-Flying Eagles captains Kelechi Nwakali (€0.7m) and Ramon Azeez (€0.4m) have also seen their market value drop after they were released by their clubs.
In reality, Mikel was once the most expensive Nigerian player in history, with Chelsea splashing 20 million euros to sign him from Lyn Olso in 2006, a record that stood for eleven years before it was broken by Odion Ighalo.
Meanwhile, ex-Flying Eagles captains Kelechi Nwakali (€0.7m) and Ramon Azeez (€0.4m) have also seen their market value drop after they were released by their clubs.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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