John obi Mikel recently secured a free transfer to Chinese Super League outfit Tianjin TEDA.

He becomes one of the latest Premier League players to make the switch to China. The Chinese Super League has been incredibly active in ensuring that the best players in the world come to the Chinese shores. In order to ensure this possibility, they have been spending vast sums of money including a £ 60 million the transfer of Brazilian midfielder Oscar. The 25-year-old will not be alone since he will be joined by Mikel, who has also moved to the Chinese league.

After more than a decade at Chelsea, Mikel has written an emotional letter to fans thanking them for their incredible support during this period. The 29-year-old came to the club as a teenager and as a potential replacement for Claude Makelele. Even though he never really became the best in the defensive midfield position, Mikel was part of the team that won numerous honours.

In his decade at the club, he won trophies like the Champions League, Europa League, Premier League, . An astonishing return of 11 trophies in 376 appearances makes Mikel one of the legends out of the club since the turn of the millennium.

Mikel says that he is moving to China at a time when the league is taking off. “To play for Chelsea, to become part of the Chelsea family, to work with some of the best managers and players in the world, has truly been an honour. Every achievement I have been part of in my time at Chelsea holds a special memory: my first goal, against Macclesfield in 2007 (even though there were only five more after that!). Then there was Munich,” said Mikel in his emotional letter to the fans.