John Mikel Obi, the former Super Eagles captain, has revealed that he left Chelsea based on advice from former team-mate Didier Drogba.
Mikel Obi fell out with the newly-appointed manager at the time, Antonio Conte, after he chose to represent Nigeria at the Olympics.
After he returned to Stamford Bridge, the Nigerian was frozen out by Conte.
However, when Chelsea went into a bad patch, the Italian coach tried to make up with Mikel Obi and restore him to the team.
“Conte called me to his office and asked me to play again. I said, ‘No, thank you very much. I have already made up my mind I wanted to go anyway’,” Mikel Obi said on the Vibe with Five podcast.
“I spoke to Didier Drogba. He said, ‘Once it starts happening like this, find your way. Just go. Try something new'”.
Mikel Obi left Chelsea for Chinese club Tianjin TEDA.