Mauricio Pochettino could do with someone of John Obi Mikel’s quality and experience at Chelsea (Photo: Getty/Hayters TV)
John Obi Mikel has joked that Chelsea ‘need to bring back’ himself and his former teammates and believes the new generation of players can succeed in time.
Chelsea are a club that are used to a high turnover in players, but even so, much has changed at Stamford Bridge over the past year-and-a-half.
Over a £1billion has been spent on new players by Todd Boehly, with much of the squad acquired during Roman Abramovich’s reign already moved on.
But last season was a complete disaster for the Blues as they finished 12th in table with Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter ruthlessly sacked.
There is plenty of promise and potential in Mauricio Pochettino’s side now however, though results haven’t reflected this so far, with just one win in four league games for the Argentine manager.
Some have suggested that the squad lack the winning mentality of previous Chelsea teams, and club icon Mikel has jokingly suggested how they should remedy this issue.
‘They need to bring us back! I’m joking!’ he quipped to Hayters TV after taking part in a Chelsea Legends vs Bayern Munich Legends game at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Mikel won the Champions League during his 11-year Chelsea career (Photo: Getty)
Assessing the current Blues side, the former midfielder said: ‘They are fine, they will be fine. I think the club is obviously going through a massive transition.
‘So we need to give them time. There are a lot of good, fantastic young players.
‘We need to give them time, we need to make sure they get time to work on the training ground and start to gel together as a team.
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‘Once we could be able to that, I think we will be back competing again, but it is going to take us a bit of time.’
Nigeria legend Mikel, who announced his retirement last year, made 372 appearances for Chelsea during an 11-year spell, winning two Premier League titles, the Champions League, the Europa League, four FA Cups and two League Cups.
He and other Blues fans will be hoping Pochettino and co. will be back to winning ways on Sunday when they travel to Bournemouth.
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