Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has criticized Enzo Maresca for his premature comments and accused Jadon Sancho of “deceiving” the club.
Chelsea started the season strong under their new coach Maresca and were seen as Premier League title contenders until December.
However, their form has dramatically dropped, and after a 3-0 defeat to Brighton, they’ve only secured two wins in their last nine league matches.
In January, Maresca told Sky Sports that Chelsea were ahead of schedule in achieving the club’s targets for the season as set by the owners.
He stated, “The club asked to play Champions League in two years. If we are able to bring this club there after one year, it will be fantastic. In the next five to ten years, Chelsea will be one of the teams, or the team, that is going to dominate English football.”
Speaking on The Obi One Podcast, Mikel expressed his frustration: “Who the f*ck has told them that? Are you f*cking kidding me? This is Chelsea Football Club. You can’t be ahead of the f*cking schedule. This is f*cking Chelsea Football Club. No disrespect to Leicester, but this is Chelsea, we are a Champions League club.”
He continued: “You can’t come out and say that. This is a Champions League club. We’ve always been in the Champions League. I swear I’ve never watched a f*cking game in the Conference League. I don’t care about it, that’s not who we are.”
Mikel added, “For him to say we’re ahead of schedule, no, you’re not. We should be there. His comment that we’re not contenders for the Premier League has gotten into the players’ heads, and since then, everything’s been a disaster. We have no clue what we’re doing.”
The Nigerian also slammed Manchester United loanee Sancho, criticizing his recent performances. He remarked, “I watched the games, and the West Ham game was worse than the Brighton one. Against Brighton, there was no character, no intensity, and no leadership on the pitch.”
He further pointed out, “No one was telling Sancho what the f*ck he was doing. He’s deceived us with a few good games, and we thought, ‘Okay, now we’re getting the Jadon Sancho from Dortmund.’ But now he’s disappeared. He takes the ball, doesn’t go past players, doesn’t create chances, and doesn’t help the team like he should.”
