Chelsea: John Obi Mikel makes Enzo Maresca sack claim as he questions summer transfer business | OneFootball

Former Chelsea midfielder maintains club made a mistake not signing Victor Osimhen in the summer

John Obi Mikel believes Chelsea’s current run of form would have been enough for the manager to be sacked in the past.

Defeat to Brighton on Friday night came as a result of what Maresca called the worst performance of his time in charge and it leaves Chelsea sixth in the table.

“The helicopter would have been landed by now. Surely would have landed by now. And whoever is in charge would have been gone. The helicopter would have landed by now. There’s no two ways about it.

“I’m not calling for the sack of Enzo Maresca. I’m not. My issue is that what is going on is not right.”

Mikel has instead pointed the figure at the club’s recruitment, and in particular the failure to strengthen sufficiently in attack or in goal.

The former Chelsea midfielder was involved in talks to try and bring Victor Osimhen to the club in the summer, claiming at the time that the Nigerian had agreed to make the move.

“You can talk about it, the recruitment process that I’ve been talking about the whole time - Paul Winstanley, I know the guy,” Mikel said. “Smart guy, clever guy.

“I’ve spoken to him a few times. Sounds bright, very, very bright guy. Knows his job. But I just think that the recruitment process at the summer, it wasn’t good enough, which I talked about.

“And a lot of Chelsea fans said, no, no, you just want Victor Osimhen at the club because he’s your friend – no he’s not. We needed a striker. We needed another goalkeeper, another top goalkeeper.”