John Obi Mikel claims Chelsea had agreed personal terms with Victor Osimhen but the deal for the Napoli striker broke down over ‘minor details’.
Chelsea made a late attempt to sign the Nigeria international in the closing stages of the summer transfer window but the Premier League club were unable to complete a move.
The 25-year-old had previously rejected an offer to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Ahli, whose €80 million (£67.3m) bid was accepted by Napoli.
Obi Mikel has revealed that he played a role in negotiations between Osimhen and Chelsea and says a deal was only ‘hours away’ from being finalised, while the forward was ‘disappointed’ after the move failed to materialise.
Osimhen has since joined Galatasaray on a season-long loan but Obi Mikel has suggested that Chelsea could easily put together a new agreement to sign the striker in the January transfer window.
‘I know what Victor wanted, I know what the club offered him, I know where we got to, we finally got to a compromise, both sides had to compromise, I was just some little things here and there, paperwork, medical, and a few issues we just couldn’t get over the line and we didn’t have much time,’ Obi Mikel revealed on The Obi One Podcast.
‘Both sides really played their part in terms of getting the deal done, and I commend Chelsea for that because I can see their ambition of where they want to take this club now and also on Victor’s side, how much he really wanted to come to the club.
‘He was disappointed it didn’t happen. I spoke to him when the transfer window shut, I gave him a call, we spent 20 minutes talking, I said, ‘listen, I’m always here for you, you need to keep your head down, you need to keep working hard, keep training, I know it’s not the best situation right now but I know you’re strong’.
‘You know, Victor’s a strong character, he’s a bit like Didier Drogba and Diego Costa and that’s something we’re missing at the club, strikers who have that edge, who have that bite who can intimidate defenders and Victor definitely has that.’
Asked if there is an issue between Osimhen and Chelsea over the failed transfer, Obi Mikel replied: ‘Definitely there are no issues. I think if we have to pick this back up again like I said, whenever it is, January or next summer, we know where we are, we know where we’ve stopped, and it’s just little details that need to be finalised and the deal will be done.
‘So for me, the club is in a very happy place with Victor and Victor is in a very happy place with the club.
‘I want to make sure, I’m not going to rest, I want to make sure I get him to the club because I know, not because he’s my friend, or he’s like my younger brother or he’s Nigerian, no, he is one of the best strikers in the world right now, he’s Africa’s best player, I know what he can bring to the club and I’m sure a lot of Chelsea fans know what Victor can bring to the club.
‘Victor has come under a lot of criticism about this because people don’t know the ins and outs of what happened. You need to know that before you criticise the kid.
‘Victor really, really wanted to come to the club and he had to compromise a lot to come to the middle because we did reach an agreement in terms of the salary, in terms of what he wants, it was just a few minor details here and there that we couldn’t get over the line.
‘For me, hearing all that nonsense about Victor being greedy, a lot of people talking down about him. No, I think it’s time, especially Nigerians, support him, it’s time people around him, friends, Nigerian fans, get behind him and support him.
‘Like I said, if we have to pick it back up again, if there is interest come January, Chelsea still want Victor and Victor still wants to come to Chelsea, we know exactly where we are. It’s not a matter of it being difficult, we’re just going to get the deal done.’
Obi Mikel also credited Chelsea’s co-sporting director, Paul Winstanley, for driving the club’s push to sign Osimhen.
‘I want to say that is absolutely not true – Victor is not a greedy boy, he’s not a greedy guy, he only wants to get what he’s deserves and that’s not a problem,’ Obi Mikel said.
‘I know what happened, I was there, I was in the midst of everything. Victor is not a greedy boy, he just wants to play football and get what he deserves, and that’s not a problem, a player knowing what he’s worth and asking and demanding to be paid what he’s worth, that’s not a problem.
‘And also to be able to come to a compromise between him and Chelsea to make sure the deal got done. We were very, very close, I’ll put it that way. We were hours away from getting this deal done but there were slight issues, slight little problems that we couldn’t get over the line, and of course the medical couldn’t be done as well – even if we got the deal done it was too late.
‘I know exactly where we stopped, I know exactly where we are with the deal, and if eventually, say January or whatever, we have to pick it up again, I know exactly where we are and where we have to start from.
‘I was the guy right in the middle of everything. For a couple of days I didn’t sleep, Thursday and Friday I didn’t sleep, obviously I’m here in Dubai, it’s about three hours difference, I had to wait for phone calls, I went to sleep at 4am in the morning because I was waiting for a phone call from this side and that side just to make sure we try to include everything that Victor wants and the club also have to make sure they get the okay from the owner.
‘Paul Winstanley was really, really amazing. I can tell you this guy, the sporting director, is somebody I’ve spoken to now and got to know really well. Hearing from him, it’s amazing, it’s refreshing to see where the club, where the owners, especially Paul, wants to take the club to, there’s so much to be happy about, there’s so much excitement, they’ve got a vision and it’s a very great vision. They don’t want to just bring in any player to the football club, it’s about bringing the right players, the players who can improve the team and the squad and I think Paul is on top of that and from this transfer window I think we’ll start to see the right players coming to the football club and that’s something that’s really, really nice to see.
‘[Chelsea] were very serious about getting the deal done. I think I spoke to Paul [Winstanley] on Wednesday and I said, ‘listen, we have to send somebody down to see Victor and that will change the way he sees things and then he will understand how much they want him to come to the club’. Straight away the club sent someone to Naples to try to speak to Victor and his agent to make sure we get the deal done.
‘It shows how much the club were willing to have the player and how eager Victor was, as well, to come to the club.
‘I know people say, ‘oh, he didn’t want to come’, no that’s not true. Victor really, I know, wants to come to the club because he still knows he has a lot to prove in Europe. He wants to come to Chelsea, he wants to help the club get back to where he should be, he knows he can score a lot of goals in the Premier League and what a better place to do that than his childhood club Chelsea.’