“Surely he should be there" - John Obi Mikel snubs Didier Drogba, names one other ex-Chelsea mate as best he ever played with

Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel has named Eden Hazard as the best player he ever played with during his time at Stamford Bridge, ahead of fellow club legend Didier Drogba.

Mikel, who played for Chelsea between 2006 and 2017, had the privilege of sharing the locker room with several players who etched their names into the history books at the west London club.

During a recent episode on talkSPORT, Mikel was asked for his Premier League all-time XI. The former Nigerian international sought clarification on whether he could include his former Chelsea teammates, insisting he had a few players he’s played with that will make the list. When told that he shouldn’t make the lineup exclusively of Blues players, he responded that Hazard would definitely be in it.

“I do have few players that I played with that is going to be in that league. Surely Eden Hazard should be there. He’s the best player that I played with,” Mikel said.

Mikel first played with Drogba at Chelsea from 2006 to 2012, and the duo reunited between 2014 and 2015 after the former Ivorian striker returned to the club for a second spell. During those periods, they won multiple Premier League titles as well as the UEFA Champions League.

Mikel played alongside Hazard from 2012 to 2019. While he and the former Belgian international also won a couple of trophies together, it wasn’t as many as he won with Drogba. Also, he had more joint goal contributions with Drogba (4) compared to none with Hazard.

Mikel says John Terry was more important to Chelsea than Frank Lampard

In the same episode, Mikel was put on the spot when asked to choose who was ‘more important’ to Chelsea between John Terry and Frank Lampard. Mikel struggled to pick one over the other, heaping praise on both before finally giving the nod to Terry. He said:

“Oh, more important. They both go about their business really, really differently. Frank is more, you know, more sort of a quiet leader. You know, he wants to show you what he wants from you on the pitch. While JT is very, very vocal, very vocal. I think if you have to ask, obviously we always want our captain in the team.

“You know, JT was the guy who drives everybody. You have to be at your game. You have to be awake. You cannot be half asleep during games with JT. That doesn’t happen. You have to constantly be at your game. Otherwise, you’re going to get it. He’s going to come and grab you on the neck, grab you and say, “Wake the f up.” You know.

“Super Frank was obviously very, very vital for us. scored important goal, big goals, won us big matches. They were both very important, but if I have to pick one, sorry, Super Frank, I’m going JT.”

Despite having hung up his boots, Mikel remains a passionate Chelsea supporter and has never shield away from giving his opinion on the club's current situation.