Mikel signs new 5 year deal at Chelsea

Below is what the club posted on its official website but what they failed to state is whether the deal is an improved one (pay package-wise) or not. The 25 year old currently earns 80,000 pounds per week at Stamford Bridge. Congrats to Mikel, and I hope he will get to score goals now apart from the two he got in the FA Cup in his first season.

Chelsea Football Club is delighted to announce John Mikel Obi has signed a new five-year contract which will keep him at the club until 2017.

The midfielder has been a first-team regular since arriving as a 19-year-old in the summer of 2006.

Mikel made his debut that August, and has gone on to make 261 appearances, 213 as a starter. In that time he has scored twice.

Originally an attack-minded midfielder, it was Jose Mourinho who saw the defensive potential in the player, and he has since been used as an anchorman after learning from the great Claude Makelele in his early Chelsea days.

The 25-year-old won the club's Young Player of the Year award in his first season. Since then he has collected four FA Cup medals, one Barclays Premier League, a Carling Cup and of course the Champions League, where in the Final in May he played an important role in keeping Bayern Munich at bay.

Upon signing his new deal, the Nigerian international said: 'Chelsea seems like my home now because I have been here for over six years and I enjoy my time here. I come into the training ground every day to work and I value my time there. I am happy and want to keep going and win trophies for this club.

'I have basically won everything with Chelsea and those years have been really special for me, winning trophies with big names like Didier Drogba, John Terry and Frank Lampard who have had very long Chelsea careers.

'Last season to win the Champions League was even more special,' he added, 'and I hope these next five years will bring even more success and I can win trophies with the new players we have here.

'Being 25 I think I am now hitting my peak but as a player you want to improve every day and there is still room for that. I want to learn from the players and the manager and I just want to keep going.'