Chelsea Midfielder John Mikel Obi officially changes his name

John Obi Mikel has been called many things by Chelsea fans during his decade at Stamford Bridge… many of which are far too rude for us to repeat.
However, while he may have got used to the abusive slurs hurled his way by a section of the Stamford Bridge support, it seems the Nigerian midfielder has finally had enough of people getting his ACTUAL NAME wrong.
That is why the Chelsea stalwart has just officially changed his name… to Mikel John Obi.
Confused? You will be.

For starters, it turns out that he was never actually called 'Mikel'. The Guus Hiddink favourite was born John Michael Nchekwube Obinna - 'Mikel' only became a thing when the Nigerian FA mistakenly used Mikel instead of Michael on his submission form for the 2003 FIFA Under-17 World Championships.
We did say this was going to get confusing…

Just to muddy the waters further, John (let's just call him John for now) liked the mistake.
So much so, that despite the fact it's not actually his name, he's been happy to let us all call him John Obi Mikel ever since he joined Chelsea in 2006.

Which we're going to have to stop doing… because has now officially changed his name to… Mikel John Obi.
Clear? Sorted? Understood?