John Obi Mikel has responded after Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson hit back at him following his criticisms.
The former Chelsea midfielder had criticised the striker’s finishing during the Blues’ 2 – 0 defeat to Manchester City.
Speaking on beIN Sports, Mikel, who played for Chelsea between 2006 and 2017, said: ‘We’ve played OK, we haven’t played perfect, but we’ve played OK.
‘We created chances, we haven’t taken them. And [it’s] just an example of how Jackson finishes.
After scoring in the 6-2 win over Wolves on Sunday, Jackson told Mikel to ‘shut your mouth’ in an Instagram post.
Mikel responded by saying that he likes Jackson’s game but stressed that there are aspects that the 23-year-old needs to work on.
Speaking on The Obi One podcast, Mikel said: ‘I really like the guy as a football player. I like him. There’s something there as a football player.
‘I haven’t said that he’s a bad player at all. I’ve just said that his finishing qualities, it’s not there yet.
‘He’s a young boy and all I’ve said is that he needs a more experienced striker to come into the football club to help him, to help him improve, to help him get better.
‘We all can see the shift he puts in week in, week out. So for me, I would like to see my African brother like he said do well in the Premier League, come to Chelsea, a big club, a massive club where we’ve had one of the greatest strikers in Didier Drogba from Africa, Ivory Coast did really well.’
‘I’d like to see him do well as well in the club,’ he added. ‘If he plays well I will praise him. If there is something to be said about him, where he needs to improve, I will definitely say it.
‘If he scores every week and tells me to shut up, I’ll take that. You know what I mean?’.
