Obi Mikel impressed Chelsea at 16. Desailly spoke about watching the Nigerian in the team

Nigerian midfielder John Obi Mikel has served Chelsea faithfully for over a decade, but as it turns out, he could have been at Stamford Bridge even earlier, as he impressed even world champion Marcel Desailly at a young age.

The latter spoke of the period when the midfielder came to watch the London team at the age of 16, and even then he was already well on his way:

‘He was magical. He was so technical, even in 1 on 1 and 2 on 2 matches. Every time he could get out of any situation and we were all so impressed. We were even worried if he was on drugs because he was unbelievable. This player had to raise the level of football very high,’ Desailly told beIN Sports.

Obi Mikel then failed to make it to Chelsea as the club failed to secure a work permit for him. But he managed to do it in the summer of 2006. Then the ‘pensioners’ had to overpay, because in the same transfer window he had already become a Manchester United player.