Former Chelsea player, Emmanuel Sarki, believes John Obi Mikel is a better player than Nemanja Matic, who is currently one of the players keeping the Nigerian out of the Blues line up.
Sarki who was on Chelsea’s books for five years but failed to make a senior team appearance, insists Matic found favour in new manager Antonio Conte.
“It’s a pity Obi lost his place in the starting line up to a player who the manager trusts, not because he is better than him,” he told Owngoalnigeria.com
“As a player you need to win the trust of the manager to be at your best, Obi has it under previous managers but Conte worked with Matic while Mikel was away and now he trust him”
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Sarki alongside Obi, Chinedu Obasi and Ezekiel Bala trained with Chelsea in 2003 but only the 26-year-old was offered a deal with the rest sent to Norway under the watch of the Blues.
The newly capped Haiti man spent five years with the club, spending three years at Westerloo in Belgium on loan, with little degree of success not good enough to tempt a recall back to team.
Meanwhile of the trio who went to Norway, Mikel Obi established himself in the Norway Tipplegen with Lyn Oslo and won a transfer back to Chelsea after a drag with Manchester United.
However, Sarki insists his time at Chelsea is the reason he is still playing professional football up till now as it gave him the platform to build his career.
“I look back at my time with Chelsea with smiles so many of us who went on loan at that time very few of us are still relevant in top flight football, but I thank God am among the few,” he added.
“Chelsea taught me the basics of professional football, being part of three pre-season tournaments opened my eyes to the demands of what one must do to be successful as a player.”
