Clattenburg Names Mikel Among 5 Most Annoying Players

Super Eagles and Chelsea midfielder John Mikel Obi has been named among the five most annoying players by ex-Premier League referee, Mark Clattenburg.

Clattenburg said during his career John Obi Mikel, former Wales striker, Craig Bellamy; ex-Manchester United captain Roy Keane; former Arsenal goalkeeper, Jens Lehmann and Portugal defender, Pepe. were all in the list.

Clattenburg is regarded as one of the best referees of his generation and officiated the 2016 European Championship, Champions League and FA Cup finals among others.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, the 45-year-old opened up about some of the challenges he faced during his 13 years as a referee.

Speaking about Mikel Obi, who played for Chelsea in the Premier League, Clattenburg said: “I have picked Mikel because of the incident during a Chelsea v Manchester United match in 2012 when he accused me of making a racist comment, which was not right and I was later cleared by the FA.

“He has never apologised and that is disappointing because it could have ruined my life. I fell out of love with refereeing for a while after that but couldn’t quit because I had a family to support and no other career to pursue.

“Mikel only heard the allegation from his team-mate Ramires, who did not speak English. Other Chelsea players have since apologised but nothing from Mikel.”

Chelsea legend Mikel John Obi is no stranger to strange transfer rumors, but this one’s literally half a world away, which seems especially unlikely at first glance for a player who made it pretty clear that he doesn’t want to stray too far from his home in London at this point in his career.

In any case, TUDN (née Univision) journalist Diego Medina claims that a team from Monterrey, Mexico are keeping an eye on the midfielder, who’s been a free agent since terminating his contract with Trabzonspor in Turkey due to their slow response to the COVID-19 crisis.