19th March, 2020
John Obi Mikel has blasted former club Trabzonspor over its handling of the coronavirus situation and his exit from the club.
Last week, the former Nigerian international posted on Instagram where he criticized the Turkish football association for the decision to continue football while Covid 19 spreads.
That post did not go down well with the Trabzonspor hierarchy and Mikel has revealed what transpired.
“They [the club] were really upset about the whole thing. Iwas told to meet with the president in his office one-on-one. He asked me to take [the post] down. I told him I wasn’t going to do that.
” I told the club, ‘Ok, if that’s what you are saying, I’m ready to give up my contract. To be with my family, to help the world to do the right thing- everybody needs to stay at home at this point in time.’
“Go back to Trabzonspor? No chance. Not with the way they have dealt with this situation”, Goal.com quoted Mikel’s interview with The Atletic.
He has since returned to England to be with his family.