'Unsung hero role' - Di Matteo suggests Mikel was underappreciated by Chelsea fans despite doing a lot of work

Former Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo has declared that John Obi Mikel was underappreciated by some Blues fans despite doing the dirty job in midfield.

Chelsea, under former owner Roman Abramovich, signed Mikel as they saw him as an ideal replacement for Claude Makélélé, who later departed for Paris Saint-Germain two years after the Nigerian arrived at Stamford Bridge.

Originally a number 10, Mikel was converted into a defensive midfielder by manager Jose Mourinho and he played in that position throughout his time at the Blues. 

He transitioned to become a strong and powerful defensive midfielder with excellent positional sense and an eye for a pass. 

The former Super Eagles captain was struggling for game time in the first part of the 2011-2012 season under André Villas-Boas, but returned to the starting lineup with the appointment of Roberto Di Matteo as caretaker boss.

Mikel's best-ever game was Chelsea was in the 2012 Champions League final against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena, where he produced an outstanding performance in midfield to help the Blues win the competition for the first time in their history.

"I played in the same position as you so I knew exactly what you go for in a game and what you felt," Di Matteo said on The Obi One Podcast.

"The role that you played in our team is a little bit of unsung hero role. You have to do a lot of work that the fans or the critics in general don't really understand or appreciate but me because I played similar role I knew exactly how important you were for the team.

"I just wanted you to play as free as possible because you as a person you're very unselfish so I'd no doubt you would give everything for the team.

"My first game was in the FA Cup against Birmingham away, and then we had a game in the league and then we played Napoli as well but apart from the Napoli game I think he played all the games."

Mikel was at Chelsea for over a decade, winning ten major trophies including the Premier League twice, the FA Cup four times, the League Cup twice, and the Champions League and Europa League.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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