2013 AFCON winner John Mikel Obi built his perfect midfielder.
Former Chelsea midfielder John Mikel Obi was recently tasked with building his perfect midfielder, selecting a player from the following attributes: passing, shooting, tackling, speed, strength and dribbling, and he made some interesting choices.
The former Trabzonspor man left out many great midfielders, including the likes of Zidane, Xavi and Iniesta, constructing his perfect midfielder exclusively from a list of former Premier League stars.
Mikel’s choices
Passing: For the aspect of passing, the 37-year-old went for the ginger-headed former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes
“I’ll go with Paul Scholes. The range of the passing, the weight of the pass – it’s just pure genius. The way he played football, absolute joy to watch.”
Shooting: It came as no surprise when Mikel named his former Chelsea teammate Frank Lampard for this aspect. The Coventry manager is one of the greatest goalscoring midfielders of all time and remains Chelsea’s all-time top scorer (211).
Frank Lampard has scored the most long-range goals in Premier League history (Credit: Imago)
“The way he puts the weight and the way he leans over the ball. The technique as well, just absolutely fantastic, and he scored a lot of goals as well with shooting. The amount of goals he scored from midfield season after season is just brilliant.”
Tackling: One could have expected Mikel to name a defensive midfielder for this skill set; instead, he went for the legendary Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard, citing the Scouse icon’s variation and dynamism.
“Steven Gerrard. I played against the guy; even when he played as a number 10 towards the latter part of his career when he played behind Fernando Torres, he still tackled like a #8.”
“Also, the way he led that Liverpool side, at some point it just seemed like he dragged the whole team on his shoulder. For me, definitely, yh, Stevie G.
Speed: Mikel initially named Yaya Toure for this attribute, highlighting the Ivorian’s engine and power. However, he tweaked it, picking N’golo Kante for this attribute, reserving Toure for another.
Strength: Upon hearing that this was the next attribute for selection, Mikel edited his choice, picking Yaya Toure for strength and choosing Kante for speed.
Dribbling: The diminutive legendary Spanish midfielder David Silva got this slot in Mikel’s perfect midfielder build. The 2013 AFCON winner lauded the Manchester City legend’s touch, awareness, and skill.
