Jose Mourinho has praised John Obi Mikel as the Portuguese coach considers him to be a ‘’genius’’ as he told Chelsea’s official website. “Mikel is a genius in his position. It is a miracle if he loses the ball’’.

Mikel said that coming to such a big club like Chelsea as a young 18 years old player was a dream come true for him but stated that during his early days at the Premier League club was intimidating.

“I remember coming into the dressing room and I was shaking all through the first week. The players in there really helped me settle in - John Terry, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and the other African players that were there at the time.

“I looked at these guys every day and I learned a lot from them, how they act on and off the football pitch, which helped me develop and mature as a person. It was a growing up stage which I never had with any other team. I just jumped straight into this team so I had to learn that way,” he said.

It comes into doubt however if the newest signing of Chelsea, Nemanja Matic will limit the chances of Obi Mikel from playing consistently. The Nigerian player is already competing with the likes of Lampard, Ramires, Essien, Van Ginkel, Oscar and even David Luiz in order to get a chance to play in the starting lineup of Mourinho and considering the €21 million price tag that Chelsea had to offload in order to secure the services of Matic, he will probably be in the plans of Mourinho.

Just as Matic seems to be on the near plans of Mourinho, the question rises on whether John Obi Mikel will be maintaining a secured spot in the main squad of Chelsea along with all the other competitors.