Mikel Obi joins Tianjin TEDA, earns N54m weekly

Mikel shaking hands with a Tianjin TEDA club official and holding the club’s shirt

Nigeria midfielder John Obi Mikel has become the latest big name player to join the Chinese Super League gold rush after leaving Chelsea for Tianjin Teda.

Mikel, who failed to make a single appearance for Antonio Conte’s side this season, had a medical in the port city some 130 kilometres from Beijing on Thursday and the Asian Football Confederation confirmed the deal on Friday.

Mikel was frozen out of Chelsea’s first team this season by N’Golo Kante, Nemanja Matic, Nathaniel Chalobah and Cesc Fabregas who were all ahead in the pecking order.

The 29-year-old, who spent more than a decade at Stamford Bridge, was given a free transfer by the London club and will earn 54 million naira 140,000 pounds ($173,432) a week in China, according to local media reports.

Mikel joined Chelsea for £17m from Lyn Oslo on July 19, 2006 and made 372 appearances for the London club.

After joining Chelsea in 2006, Mikel was part of a squad that won a Champions League crown, two Premier League titles and four FA Cups.

Chinese clubs have made several high-profile signings over the last month with Argentine striker Carlos Tevez moving to Shanghai Shenhua for a reported 84 million euros ($87.65 million).

Less than a week later, Brazilian midfielder Oscar joined local rivals Shanghai SIPG from Chelsea in a deal believed to be worth 60 million euros.

At the end of December, Cristiano Ronaldo’s agent said the World Player of the Year had turned down the chance to leave Real Madrid for an unnamed Chinese club for a transfer fee of 300 million euros ($315.24 million).

Amid the spending spree, the country’s General Administration of Sport described the excess of some Chinese clubs as “a grave phenomenon” on Thursday.

Mikel joins Serbia midfielder Nemanja Gudelj, who moved to Tianjin from Dutch club Ajax on Thursday.