The Champions League winner who wept in his car after leaving Chelsea ~ PressTv

The Athletic today have a brilliant long interview with cult hero Jon Obi Mikel, which is of course full of Chelsea-based anecdotes from his long years at the club.

We all loved Mikel, but we didn’t know just how much he loved Chelsea, until now.

In the interview he reveals what it was like leaving the club after an incredible 11 year stretch where he won everything there was to win. According to the midfielder, it was enough to move him to tears:

“There were tears in my eyes,” Mikel explained.

“I parked around the corner. I just had to take a minute. There was the realisation that this was it for me and Chelsea. For 11 years I had done the same thing, had the same locker, driven to the same place every day. Chelsea was my second home. I was often there from nine in the morning to three in the afternoon. I was there more than I was in my own home.”

It’s a touching story which just serves to remind us how close players can become to a club, off the field as much as on it. It was probably the security guard and the tea lady and the masseuses as much as anything else that Mikel felt sad about leaving.

His time at the club had come to an end, but he will always have a place in Chelsea fans’ hearts, and he will always be welcome back at the club.