John Obi Mikel has responded after Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson hit back at him.
Jackson was unhappy after former Chelsea midfielder Mikel criticised his finishing during the Blues’ defeat by Manchester City.
And after scoring in the 6-2 win over Wolves on Sunday, Jackson told Mikel to ‘shut your mouth’ in an Instagram post.
Mikel responded by saying that he likes Jackson’s game but stressed that there are aspects that the 23-year-old needs to work on.
Speaking on The Obi One podcast, Mikel said: ‘I really like the guy as a football player. I like him. 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, it’s not there yet.
‘He’s a young boy and 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.
‘We all can see the shift he puts in week in, week out. So for me, I would like to see my African brother like he said do well in the Premier League, come to Chelsea, a big club, a massive club where we’ve had one of the greatest strikers in Didier Drogba from Africa, Ivory Coast did really well.’
Mikel also stated that he will be happy if Jackson scores every week and continues to tell him to shut up.
‘I’d like to see him do well as well in the club,’ he added. ‘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 that. You know what I mean?’.
Mikel had criticised Jackson’s finishing during the Blues’ defeat against City.
Speaking on beIN Sports, Mikel, who played for Chelsea between 2006 and 2017, said: ‘We’ve played OK, we haven’t played perfect, but we’ve played OK.
‘We created chances, we haven’t taken them. And [it’s] just an example of how Jackson finishes.
‘You can see there, even though he was offside, he dribble (past) one or two or three players and the way he shot the ball!’
Mikel continued: ‘You need a striker who knows how to hit a ball back in the back of the net and that’s what we don’t have.
‘I know I talk so much about him and sometimes I sound like I disrespect him. I don’t disrespect him.
‘I think at Chelsea Football Club we need a top striker who can get us a goal.
‘A bit like (Haaland), 91 goals (for City) that’s absolutely unbelievable.’
Jackson responded to Mikel’s criticism after scoring after just 98 seconds in Chelsea’s 6-2 win against Wolves.
Jackson hit back at Mikel as he wrote on Instagram: ‘@Mikel_john_obi shut your mouth.
‘Don’t talk s***, we are killing ourselves for Africa.’
Jackson has scored 18 goals in 46 games for Chelsea since joining for £32m in 2023.
