Trabzonspor terminate Mikel’s contract over coronavirus comment

Trabzonspor have terminated the contract of Nigeria midfielder, Mikel Obi, after nine months with the club, Sports Extra reports.

The midfielder joined the Turkish club in June 2019, on a two-year deal as a free agent but after making a statement on his Instagram page calling for the Turkish Lig to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, the club on Tuesday, after a meeting with the player, mutually terminated his contract.

The club made the confirmation in a statement on their website.

“The professional football player agreement between our company and John Mikel on 30.06.2019 start date to 31.05.2021 has been mutually terminated. With the mutual termination agreement, the football player has given up all his forward-looking receivables.”

But it is believed that the termination of the former Nigeria captain’s contract was as a result of his comments on coronavirus.

Mikel had on Saturday stated that he did not feel comfortable playing with the threat of the coronavirus ravaging Europe.

“There is more to life than football. I do not feel comfortable and don’t want to play football in this situation. Everyone should be home with their families and loved ones in this critical time. The season should be cancelled as the world is facing such turbulent times,” Mikel wrote on his Instagram post.

Mikel’s manager, Necdet Ergezen, in a chat with Turkish based website 61saat.com revealed that the decision to terminate the midfielder’s contract was mutual and the player has received all outstanding payments.

“After the coronavirus epidemic around the world, he (Mikel) was uneasy with his family due to the closing of the borders in Europe and the measures in England. He wanted to be with his children in this process. We talked about the situation with the management from Saturday and talked to Obi. He has no receivables, he got all his payments.”

The 32-year-old had been a key member of the team’s set up, featuring 19 times for the club and helping them to the top of the league table. Punch