John Obi Mikel was lucky enough to play with some absolutely amazing players during his time at Chelsea.
Indeed, the Nigerian worked alongside the likes of John Terry, Frank Lampard and even Eden Hazard at Stamford Bridge as he won trophy after trophy with the Blues.
Mikel also worked with some brilliant managers, while he hailed Hazard for his technical ability, even if he thought he could’ve worked harder.
Speaking on Peter Crouch’s Podcast, Mikel has been tasked with creating his dream five-a-side team made up of his former teammates.
Interestingly, Mikel picked former Chelsea midfielder, Deco, in his team, claiming that the Portuguese star was a fantastic player who never quite gets the credit he deserves.
Deco in action for Chelsea in training
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
John Obi Mikel hails Deco
Mikel named Deco in his dream Chelsea five-a-side team.
Mikel also named Petr Cech, John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba in his side, while Deco was something of a wildcard pick.
The pundit says that while Deco wasn’t at Chelsea for long, he was a fantastic player who should be spoken about more.
“Then I’ll go with Didier Drogba up front, he obviously won us the Champions League in 2012.
“Then I’m going to go with another player, Deco, another player that people don’t talk about, he was at the club for a short time but Deco would be in my team, technically a fantastic player.”
Where is Deco now?
Deco was a very good footballer in his heyday. In fact, in 2004 he was the runner-up for the Ballon d’Or award due to his brilliance in Porto’s historic Champions League run.
Since his retirement, Deco has had quite the journey.
The former midfielder became an agent after retiring, looking after a number of notable high-profile players.
Most famously, Deco was Raphinha’s representative and he even negotiated with Chelsea when Raphinha was looking at leaving Leeds.
Nowadays, Deco is the Sporting Director at Barcelona, and he may well have some future negotiations with Chelsea again as Barca and the Blues will surely cross paths in the transfer market again at some point in the near future.