John Obi Mikel has insisted that he has no regrets over his decision to play at the 2016 Olympics stage in Rio.
The Chelsea midfielder captained Samson Siasia’s men to win the bronze medal in the championship, and had since been left out of Antonio Conte’s squad on return to the Stamford Bridge.
Despite the snub by the Italian manager, Mikel believed picking Nigeria ahead of the Blues’ pre-season camp was the right one to make.
“I have never been a guy who makes excuses in life and never shy away from responsibilities,” Mikel told The Sun. “Yes, maybe people will say the new manager was upset I left and went to the Olympics, that I didn’t have a pre-season with the team.
“He probably thinks I don’t care about the team, things like that.
“But I don’t want to use those excuses. I have to keep training hard and make sure I change the manager’s mind. If not, then we’ll see what happens in January.” “But, no, I would never swap my Olympics medal for a place back in the Chelsea team,” he continued.
“One thing you have to do in life as a man is that when you make a decision, or a sacrifice, you have to deal with it. “You have to stand by your decision. You have to live with it.
“I have not one single regret in going to the Olympics. And I will not trade my medal for anything.
“It’s what I deserve. I worked hard for it, so why would I trade it for something else — a place in the Chelsea squad?”
Coach of the Nigeria national team, Gernot Rohr has given a fresh angle to his statement on the lack of playing time John Mikel Obi is experiencing at Chelsea.
Rohr, while speaking on the captain lack of game time during the Super Eagles presser ahead of the tie against Algeria, said that the 29, year old was being punished by coach Antonio Conte for his participation at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
The coach said he was quoted out of context although he did admit to using the word punish when describing the reason why Mikel is frozen out of the first team picture at Chelsea.
“I was quoted out of context. Perhaps the word ‘punish’ might have come too strongly. But I meant it in a larger sense of the price he is paying for his participation in the Olympics’.
“What I was trying to say was that we should all acknowledge the commitment of the team captain to the national team and the price that he might have had to pay, missing action for his club in the time he was in the Olympics”