By Akinwale Kasali
After parting ways with Turkish Club Side, Trabzonspor Football Club, before the end of the 2019/2020 Season, former Super Eagles Captain, John Obi Mikel is set to return to England.
The former Chelsea Football Club midfielder is to join English Championship Side, Stoke City Football Club.
This will be Mikel’s second stint in the second tier of English football, having played for Middlesbrough Football Club before switching to Trabzonspor in the Turkish League.
The Stoke City stint will be a one-year deal.
Mikel has been a free agent since leaving the Turkish side Trabzonspor, and has never ruled out plans of returning to English football.
The former Lyn Oslo Football Club of Norway playmaker made 249 Premier League appearances for Chelsea in an 11-year spell, which ended when he left Stamford Bridge in 2017.
He won the Champions League and Europa League, two Premier Leagues, three FA Cups and the League Cup with the London side.
Since leaving Chelsea, Mikel has featured for Chinese side Tianjin TEDA, Middlesbrough and Trabzonspor.
He was capped 89 times for Nigeria, helping the Super Eagles win the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, before announcing his retirement from international football last summer.
Championship side Stoke survived relegation with a late fight towards the end of the 2019-20 campaign.
Mikel will join the league of notable Nigerians that have dorned the Stoke City Jersey.
Former Super Eagles Striker, Peter Osaze Odemweingie and Victor Moses played for the Potters, as Stoke City is called.
Also, present Super Eagles midfielder, Etebo Oghenekaro played for the Potters before moving to the Spanish League where he currently plies his trade.
