Chelsea legend John Obi Mikel has responded to striker Nicolas Jackson’s outburst, where Jackson told the former Nigeria international to “shut his mouth.”
According to DAILY POST, the Senegalese striker was upset by Mikel’s recent comments about his lack of goal-scoring prowess for the Blues.
During his time at Chelsea, Obi Mikel won every major club trophy.
Jackson scored and provided an assist in Chelsea’s 6-2 victory over Wolves on Sunday, showing significant improvement from his performance in the 2-0 defeat to Manchester City the previous week.
Mikel had criticized Jackson’s missed chances in the defeat to City, which did not sit well with the 23-year-old.
Following Sunday’s win, Jackson posted a furious message on Instagram, saying, “(Mikel) shut your mouth, don’t talk s**t, we are killing ourselves for Africa.”
In response, Mikel addressed the comment on his podcast, The Obi One, saying, “I really like the guy as a football player. There’s something there as a football player. I haven’t said that he’s a bad player at all. I’ve just said that his finishing qualities aren’t there yet.”
“All I’ve said is that he needs a more experienced striker to come into the football club, to help him, to help him improve, to help him get better because we all know, we can all see the shift he puts in week in week out.
“If he plays well I will praise him, if there is something to be said about him where he needs to improve, I will definitely say it. If he scores every week and tells me to shut up, I’ll take it.”