Conte punished me for playing for Nigeria in Rio Olympics - Mikel Obi

Mikel Obi has finally opened up why his Chelsea career came to an end during Conte's reign.

He said he was punished for representing Nigeria in the 2016 Olympics, which Nigeria won a bronze.

Conte had initially threaten Mikel that he won't be part of his team if he goes to the Rio Olympics but Mikel snubbed him.

Mikel said it is a dream to play in the Olympics, "I had been called up by my national team to play and it was a dream,” Mikel, 33, told The Athletic.

“It’s a dream for anyone to go to the Olympics. Yes, as players we want to win the Champions League and the World Cup, but the Olympics is a massive tournament."

“This guy [Conte] who has just walked in the door for five minutes is telling me I had to choose.

"He was saying, ‘If you do that, you won’t be a part of this team’. I spoke to the club and told them that I wanted to go. The club respected me because of what I had done for them and how long I’d been there.

"So off I went and I felt punished for that. I came back and I didn’t make the squad. I was never in the squad list on matchdays again.

“The funny thing is, just before the January window was going to start, he came up to me and said ‘I want a meeting with you’. This was after making me train on my own for months, treating a player who had been at Chelsea for a long time like this!

“When he tried to meet with me he was like, ‘Let’s try and make up, I will need you in the team, let’s squash this, blah, blah, blah!’. I was like, ‘Are you joking?! Are you f*cking serious?!’ He knew I wanted out. I stood up and walked out of the room. You can’t disrespect a human being like that.

“I couldn’t wait for the window to open to get out. I was talking to the hierarchy and explaining that I would definitely have to go. They agreed, they understood.”

Mikel Obi spent 11 years in Chelsea before joining Tianjin Teda for two seasons, returned to England to join Middleborough before moving to turkey to play for Trabzonspor in 2019.

He is currently in England playing for Stoke City.

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