John Obi Mikel’s contract with Turkish club Trabzonspor has been terminated by mutual consent, the club has announced.
Mikel joined the Turkish club as a free agent on a two-year deal last summer, and has been impressive as a regular performer until last weekend.
While no precise reason was specifically given for the mutual termination of the contract, Trabzonspor confirmed the former Super Eagles captain gave up his remaining wages.
“The professional football player agreement between our company and John Obi Mikel on 30.06.2019 start date 31.05.2021 has been mutually terminated.
“With a mutual termination agreement, the football player gave up all his forward-looking receivables,” the statement read.
Worthy of note, however, is that during the weekend, Mikel Obi criticized Turkish football authorities for not suspending the Super Lig season despite the spread of the coronavirus across Europe. He also expressly stated in a post on social media that he does not feel comfortable playing in the current situation.
The former Chelsea midfielder then refused to come off the bench for their 1-1 draw with Istanbul Basaksehir.
Radamel Falcao of Galatasaray, echoed Mikel’s thoughts in his reply to the Nigerian’s post: “You are right John. Life is more important than football”, while former Chelsea star, Didier Drogba, who played for the Lions between 2013 and 2014, also acknowledged the midfielder’s “words of wisdom” on social media.
Mikel’s post came approximately 24 hours after Galatasaray’s basketball players issued a joint-statement calling on the Turkish Basketball Super League campaign to be interrupted as the pandemic continues to spread worldwide.
“We, the players of Galatasaray, would like to send our condolences to all who have lost their loved ones during the last days and weeks of this relentless virus,” their statement read.
“Having said this, we appreciate the Turkish Government has taken measures to slow down the spread of the virus however we find it quite bizarre that we keep playing, despite it being behind closed doors.
“We have seen how hesitation to take extreme action has provoked a spike in cases in neighbouring countries and believe now is the time to take extreme action.”
Mikel has yet to comment on the termination of his contract with Trabzonspor.
