JOHN OBI MIKEL has joked that Chelsea need to “bring back” some of the club’s retired stars.
The Blues have been struggling in the Premier League over the last year while also going through three managers.
Club co-owner Todd Boehly sacked Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter before handing the job to Frank Lampard on an interim basis for the run-in of last season.
In the summer, Mauricio Pochettino was appointed manager and while there have been signs of improvement, the team has still struggled to perform.
This is despite an enormous amount of investment into the playing staff at the club, with Chelsea forking out almost £1billion on new players.
The club’s poor form has now seen Mikel, 36, have a joke at his former employer’s expense.
The retired midfielder was asked about the club’s situation following a Chelsea legends match against Bayern Munich.
As per Hayters TV, he joked: “They need to bring us back, I’m joking.
However, the former Chelsea star did then insist that the club would be fine as long as the players “gel together”.
The Nigerian added: “They are fine, they will be fine. I think the club is obviously going through a massive transition.
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“So we need to give them time. There are a lot of good, fantastic young players.
“We need to give them time, we need to make sure they get time to work on the training ground and start to gel together as a team.
“Once we could be able to that, I think we will be back competing again, but it is going to take us a bit of time.”
During the Legends match there was a shock inclusion for Sam Hutchinson despite him only making five appearances for Chelsea.
John Terry also made an emotional tribute to Gianluca Vialli after he scored.
Mikel joined Chelsea from Norwegian side Lyn in 2006 – going on to win two Premier League titles, three FA Cups, a League Cup, Champions League and Europa League with the Blues.
