Former Super Eagles captain John Obi Mikel has revealed why he left Chelsea FC in 2017.

Mikel joined Chelsea in 2006 after a transfer battle involving Manchester United FC. During his 11 years at the club, he won several major trophies and made 372 appearances.

The former Nigerian midfielder left Chelsea in January 2017 after reaching a mutual agreement with the club.

Speaking on the Vibe with Five podcast, Mikel said former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte played a major role in his exit.

According to Mikel, things changed after Conte arrived at Chelsea in 2016. The club had also signed N’Golo Kanté from Leicester City, increasing competition in midfield.

Mikel and fellow Nigerian player Victor Moses were later invited to represent Nigeria at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. However, the tournament clashed with Chelsea’s pre-season preparations.

Mikel said Conte warned him that he would not play for Chelsea again if he decided to go for the Olympics.

“Conte told me that if I went to the Olympics, my time at Chelsea would be over,” Mikel said.

Despite the warning, Mikel chose to represent Nigeria at the Olympics, where he captained the team to a bronze medal.

After returning from the tournament, Mikel said he was moved to train with the reserve team and spent months training alone.

He added that Conte later asked him to return to the first team when Chelsea’s performances dropped, but he had already decided to leave the club.

Mikel also revealed that former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba advised him to move on and start a new chapter in his career.

After leaving Chelsea, Mikel played for clubs including Middlesbrough FC, Trabzonspor and Stoke City FC before retiring from football in 2022.

Boston Fleet Playoff Tickets 2026: See the Cheapest Prices, Seats, Schedule for PWHL Postseason Games in Lowell originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Boston Fleet head to the PWHL Playoffs for the first time since the league’s inaugural season. The team attempts to reach the finals once again, this time looking to win it all.

Advertisement

Boston went from not qualifying for the playoffs last season to becoming one of the best teams in the league this year. That’s thanks to the efforts of Abby Newhook, Alina Muller and Olympic heroes Megan Keller and Aerin Frankel.

BUY NOW: Get tickets to Fleet playoff games on StubHub

After securing one of the top playoff spots, the Fleet will face Ottawa in the semifinals. Boston aims to beat a team that gave them trouble this year and earn its first Walter Cup.

Looking to support the Fleet? Here’s how you can get the best deals for every Fleet game during the PWHL Playoffs.

Boston Fleet 2026 playoff tickets

Advertisement

Tickets to Fleet playoff games are available on StubHub!

Boston will play Ottawa in the semifinals. The first two games will be played at the Tsongas Center in Lowell. Tickets for Game 1 start at $28 and can reach up to $171. Ticket prices for Game 2 start at $30 and can reach up to $468.

If a Game 5 is necessary, ticket prices start at $43.

Click below for the latest look at prices and availability.

BUY NOW: Latest prices, seats for Fleet PWHL Playoff games

Boston Fleet 2026 playoff schedule

Boston will take on the Ottawa Charge in the semifinals of the PWHL Playoffs.

Here’s a complete schedule of upcoming games:

Advertisement

Semifinals vs. Charge

*If necessary

PWHL Playoffs 2026 dates

The PWHL Walter Cup Playoffs are about to begin. Below is a look at key dates throughout the postseason.

• April 30: First day of playoffs – Boston Fleet vs. Ottawa Charge

• May 2: First day of playoffs – Minnesota Frost vs. Montreal Victoire

• TBA: Start of PWHL Finals

PWHL Playoffs 2026 bracket, matchups

Semifinals

• Boston Fleet vs. Ottawa Charge

• Minnesota Frost vs. Montreal Victoire

Finals

The SEC’s reign as the king of the first round of the NFL draft was toppled by the Big Ten.

But the conference that coined the mantra “It Just Means More” for its dominance of college football in the 2010s remained in the top spot for the entire draft after the SEC set a record for the number of players picked over the three days.

Advertisement

Thanks to recent national champions Indiana and Ohio State, the Big Ten led the way with 10 first-round picks, marking the first time the SEC didn’t have the most players taken in round one since 2015. The SEC only had seven — down from a record 15 last year — and the lowest total for the conference since that 2015 season when the ACC and Pac-12 led the way with nine first-rounders each and the SEC had seven.

The first player drafted from an SEC school came when LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane went sixth overall to Kansas City, marking the first draft without a top five SEC player since 2018 when Roquan Smith was the first taken at No. 8 overall by the Bears.

But the depth of the SEC shined on the final two days with the conference leading the way with 29 day two picks in rounds two and three and 51 more over the last four rounds on the final day of the draft. The 87 players in total were the most ever and easily beat the total of 67 from the Big Ten.

The SEC has had the most players picked for 20 straight drafts since the ACC took top honors in 2006. Florida won the national title the following season, starting a stretch where the conference won 13 of 17 national championships.

Advertisement

That run of dominance ended when Michigan won it all in 2023 with fellow Big Ten members Ohio State and Indiana following that up with titles of their own.

The other two power conferences were far behind with the Big 12 and ACC each having six first-rounders and 38 players picked in all.

The recent realignment that added more schools to all four power conferences, along with reduced restrictions on transfers and the advent of NIL payments all have combined to consolidate the talent at the biggest schools.

San Diego State cornerback Chris Johnson was the only player who didn’t finish his college career in the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC or Notre Dame who was taken in the first round after going 27th to Miami.

Advertisement

The next Group of Six player off the board was Toledo safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren at No. 58 to Cleveland and only one other was picked on the first two days with Georgia State receiver Ted Hurst going 84th to Tampa Bay.

In all, just 14 players from the Group of Six were drafted with the American and MAC leading the way with four each. There were 39 others who transferred from a Group of Six school to a Power Four conference.

Seven players came from FBS independents with Notre Dame having six and UConn one.

There were four players who came from FCS-level schools and one who didn’t play college at all with Philadelphia taking Nigerian native Uar Bernard in the seventh round as part of the NFL’s International Pathway Program.

Advertisement

Record low draft for running backs

The first round of the draft provided some memorable milestones for running backs with Jeremiyah Love becoming the first top five back in eight years when Arizona took him third overall. His Notre Dame teammate Jadarian Price went with the final pick of the round to Seattle.

That marked the sixth time in the common draft era starting in 1967 when two running backs from the same college were taken in the first round of the same draft with it last happening in 2008 with Arkansas’ Darren McFadden and Felix Jones.

Running backs mostly were an afterthought after that.

Advertisement

The next back off the board came near the end of the third round when San Francisco took Indiana’s Kaelon Black 90th overall, marking the fewest running backs taken in the first three rounds of the common draft.

Only 10 more running backs went on the final day with the 13 total the fewest taken in any draft.

Tight ends had a banner weekend with 22 picked, the most since 2015, according to Sportradar, when there were also 22 selected as the league’s trend of more multi-tight end formations put a premium at the position.

The trenches as usual were dominant with teams drafting 51 defensive linemen and 50 offensive linemen. There also were 46 defensive backs, 36 wide receivers, 26 linebackers, 10 quarterbacks and three specialists.

Advertisement

Ohio State leads the way

Ohio State was the third fastest school ever to have four players picked in a draft with Carnell Tate, Arvell Reece, Sonny Styles and Caleb Downs all going in the top 11 of the draft.

The only schools ever to have four players picked that quickly were Michigan State with four of the top eight in 1967 and Notre Dame with four of the top 10 in 1946.

The Buckeyes didn’t slow down from there with seven more players drafted, giving them the most of any school this year with 11. Alabama and Texas A&M each had 10, followed by Clemson, Miami and Texas Tech with nine apiece.

This also marked the 88th straight draft that both Michigan and USC had a player picked for the longest streaks of any school. Notre Dame has missed only one year (1977) of having a player picked in the regular draft since 1938 but did have running back Al Hunter taken in the supplemental draft that year.

Advertisement

Wisconsin had its streak of at least one player picked each year since 1979 snapped.

Speeding up the draft

The NFL shortened the time between picks in the first round from 10 minutes to eight minutes, cutting the total duration of the round to under three hours.

The league said the first round took 2 hours, 53 minutes, down 36 minutes from last year and 40 minutes less than the average of the previous five drafts.

The duration of the first round has been cut in half since commissioner Roger Goodell’s first draft in 2007. Teams that year had 15 minutes to make their picks in the opening round, leading to a 6 hour, 8 minute round in 2007.

The Minnesota Vikings are one of the NFL’s very worst teams. Source? Look no further than NFL.com, a site that called Kevin O’Connell and Kyler Murray’s squad the league’s fifth-worst after the draft.

A No. 28 ranking feels detached from Minnesota’s actual roster profile.

Yes, the ranking truly befuddled the masses, as most purple fans are generally excited about the Vikings in 2026.

Minnesota Has Too Much Talent for a Basement Forecast

This can be considered an offseason low point in the court of public opinion.

NFL.com: Vikings Rank 28th

Fans opened the batch of power rankings this week and scrolled, scrolled, and kept scrolling to the fifth-worst spot on the list.

Eric Edholm defended the placement:

After the surprise of the Caleb Banks pick wore off, the Vikings settled into a little groove with a few of their selections. Among the value picks I liked: LB Jake Golday, OT Caleb Tiernan, S Jakobe Thomas and CB Charles Demmings. Even a fullback in Round 5 didn’t offend me; if anything, it made me nostalgic.

I certainly understand Vikings fans could feel differently about it, given their personal investment in the team, but if Max Bredeson becomes the next C.J. Ham, it’s a good pick. This was not a year where fifth-round picks needed to be treated like military codes. Most of the same questions about Minnesota that existed last week still remain, although trading Jonathan Greenard both adds a worry and clears up cap space.

I wouldn’t be shocked to see the Vikes make a veteran addition or two in the coming months. They could use a center, a safety and maybe another receiver.

That right there is motivation for the Vikings to beat the odds.

… with the NFL’s 3rd-Best Defense?

It’s difficult to stomach a ranking this horrid because the league’s fifth-worst football team would likely have to feature a bad offense and a bad defense, or, in this case, a bad offense and a middling defense.

That’s just not the case in Minnesota, not with Brian Flores in charge. Since Flores arrived in the Twin Cities three years ago, the Vikings’ defense ranks second in the NFL per DVOA and EPA/Play and even checked in at No. 3 last year behind the Houston Texans and Seattle Seahawks.

If one assumes that Flores’s defense retains its efficient ways — or even falls to No. 8, for example — teams with Top 10 defenses don’t usually scrape the bottom of the barrel in wins and losses.

In that regard, it seems Edholm’s power ranking fundamentally disregards Flores’s employment in Minnesota.

… and Kyler Murray?

Furthermore, Minnesota now has Murray in the saddle as the QB1, and some have mistakenly treated him like a poor quarterback who needs O’Connell’s Midas touch.

Murray isn’t a Sam Darnold or Daniel Jones — down on his luck with poor past performance and teetering on a career-long bust outcome. Murray has played in 74% of his team’s games in his career, a figure that would have approached 80% had the Cardinals not eased his workload late in 2025. He boasts two Pro Bowl selections, 4.38 speed (recorded during his 2019 draft year), a deep ball capable of traveling 70 yards, and accuracy ranked among the top five ever.

At age 28, he maintains a career EPA+CPOE of 0.090, surpassing figures from Baker Mayfield, Trevor Lawrence, Daniel Jones, and C.J. Stroud. This efficiency aligns with Justin Herbert’s performance in 2025. When playing a full 17-game season, Murray typically averages:

• 3,997 Passing Yards
• 30 Total Touchdowns
• 11 Interceptions
• 67.1% Completion Rate
• 623 Rushing Yards

That level of production is comparable to Lamar Jackson’s. Murray’s remarkable speed is evident on the field; his 2019 40-yard dash time alone would instantly make him the fastest QB in Vikings history, even surpassing those of current Vikings wide receivers Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.

Edholm’s pecking order for the Vikings suggests a) the Flores defense will fall off b) Murray will stink or get hurt.

Only Thing Left Is to Prove Them Wrong

Of course, this is an April power ranking, 4.5 months before the start of the regular season. Nobody will care about Edholm’s ranking next autumn and winter, especially if the Vikings win several games and reach the postseason. Power rankings are merely a thermometer of public opinion and carry no mandate for anything.

Therefore, the Vikings have a simple mission in 2026: prove that an NFL 28th-place ranking is silly. And based on the fact that they finished 9-8 last year with the league’s fifth-worst quarterback play per Dropback EPA, the sky is the limit with Murray in the house.

Power rankings be damned.

Ramon Cardenas, who managed to drop Naoya Inoue in their 2025 bout, has shared his thoughts on this weekend’s historic showdown with Junto Nakatani.

Inoue has been dropped twice over the course of his outstanding 32-fight career, but rose to win in emphatic fashion on both occasions to remain undefeated. This weekend, he takes on what should be his most difficult challenge yet in a fascinating scrap with fellow Japanese pound-for-pound star, Junto Nakatani.

A three-division champion, Nakatani has been somewhat in the shadows of Inoue, in hot pursuit of a clash with his countryman, which he has now finally secured.

Speaking to Ring Magazine, Cardenas, who lost to Inoue last year and has sparred a total of 99 rounds with Nakatani, explained that, for the latter to pull off the upset, he must use his range.

“When the going gets tough, Junto still sticks with the game plan, even if it may be difficult. For Junto to win this fight, he needs to use his reach to do what he wants that night. He can’t let Inoue control the pace.

“And with Junto’s length, it could be hard to get into range. Junto is very good at using his range. When I fought Inoue, I said going in that I had to be perfect for 36 minutes. But for Junto, I feel that it could be a 50-50 fight.”

However, the Texan added that Nakatani may have more difficulty landing the overhand that he and Luis Nery did in Inoue’s two career knockdowns, due to the adjustments made by the debatable pound-for-pound king.

“It’s going to be difficult for Junto to drop Inoue with the overhand left the same way Luis Nery and I did because Inoue is expecting it, one hundred percent.

“You can tell that Inoue has worked on neutralising the left hand connecting on him ever since fighting me. I’ll bet you anything they are constantly drilling to keep the right hand tucked to the chin to not let the left hand get through.

Advertisement

“Whoever makes the first big mistake is going to pay. I don’t know if it will be a knockout or not in this fight, on either side, because they both know how to adjust.

“If Hernandez couldn’t knock out Junto, I don’t think Inoue can necessarily do it either. I see both guys imposing their dominance.”

‘Dinamita’ refused to offer a prediction for the contest, but finished off by giving credit to both men for accepting such a difficult fight and setting an example for their fellow boxing superstars.

“I’ll keep who I actually think will win to myself. The best answer I can give is that boxing will win. This is the kind of fight that boxing needs – the top guys, the best fighting the best. Other people should take note. It’s not about being undefeated; that’s bogus.”

Inoue-Nakatani takes place on Saturday, May 2 at the Tokyo Dome.

Tyson Fury could take another fight before meeting fellow British heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua later this year, according to promoter Frank Warren.

Fury and Joshua have already agreed to fight in what is expected to be one of the biggest boxing events of the year.

However, Joshua must first face Albanian boxer Kristian Prenga in a warm-up fight on 25 July in Saudi Arabia.

Warren warned that the much-anticipated Fury vs Joshua fight could be cancelled if Joshua loses.

“If he loses to this guy, it kills the fight,” Warren told BBC Sport.

The Queensberry Promotions boss also revealed that Fury is expected to earn the biggest purse of his career against Joshua, higher than the reported £80 million he made from fighting Oleksandr Usyk in 2024.

Fury recently returned to the ring after 15 months away, beating Arslanbek Makhmudov on points in London on 11 April.

Warren explained that Fury wants to stay active and may take another bout before facing Joshua, with the showdown likely to happen in late October at the earliest.

“Tyson wants to keep busy. He likes being in the gym because it helps him mentally and physically,” Warren said.

Warren also suggested that the loser of the Fury-Joshua fight could retire from boxing, while Fury may still want another fight with Usyk in the future.

Although Saudi Arabia is backing the fight financially, Warren said he would prefer the event to take place at Wembley Stadium.

“That is where fans want to see the fight. Wembley is the national stadium and it makes sense to hold it there,” he added.