Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel. (Photo : Getty Images)
Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel is set to join Chinese Super League club Tianjin Teda after undergoing medical in China on Thursday.
According to the Evening Standard, the 29-year-old Mikel also had discussions with La Liga's Valencia and Ligue 1's Marseille, but he ultimately decided to move to the Far East and join one of China's top-tier football clubs.
The report said that he was offered a £140,000 ($173,700) per week, three-year deal by the Tianjin Tigers, a huge increase from the £85,000 ($105,400) weekly wage he is currently earning at Chelsea.
It was also reported that Mikel was "hesitant to move to China as he wanted to still play in a competitive league in Europe and was unsure about moving his family to the Far East", but those doubts were evidently gone after Tianjin made the huge offer.
Mikel, who has not been given a single minute of playing time by Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte this season, will follow former Blues teammates Oscar, Ramires, and Demba in the Chinese top flight.
Conte had preferred midfielder N'Golo Kanté, Nemanja Matic, Cesc Fabregas and Nathaniel Chalobah over Mikel at his position this season, Daily Mail Online reported. There had been earlier reports that Mikel is set to leave the club when his contract expires at the end of the season because of his struggle for playing time.
The Nigeria international had been at the Stamford Bridge for 11 seasons, scoring six goals in 374 appearances mainly as a defensive midfielder, before he decided on the mega-money move to China.
Mikel is leaving the west London outfit with two Premier League titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups, one Community Shield, one Europa League title, and one Champions League trophy.
His former Chelsea teammate, Oscar, joined Shanghai SIPG earlier this month for a whopping transfer fee of $74.5 million.
Meanwhile, former Manchester United, Manchester City, and Juventus forward Carlos Tevez became the world's highest-paid footballer when he joined another CSL club, Shanghai Shenhua, on Dec. 29.
Tevez is set to earn $39.1 million a year with Shenhua, dwarfing Cristiano Ronaldo's $23.2 million annual wage with Real Madrid and Lionel Messi's $19.9 million yearly salary with Barcelona.
Oscar is currently the world's second highest-paid footballer with a yearly wage of 25.4 million while his SIPG teammate Hulk is earning $20.3 million a year.
