‘Definitely, I got robbed of that trophy’ - Mikel asks Yaya Toure to return the 2013 African Player of the Year award

Nigerian legend Mikel Obi has refused to let go of the 2013 African Player of the Year award given to Yaya Toure and recently asked the Ivorian to mail the award back to him

Super Eagles legend John Mikel Obi has petitioned Ivory Coast and Manchester City icon Yaya Toure to return the 2013 African Player of the Year award to him, as he was the rightful winner that year.

Mikel asks Yaya Toure to return his 2013 African Player of the Year award

Mikel has been vocal in the past about losing the award to Yaya Toure, stating that he believed he was robbed in 2013 after being given hints that he would be named the African Player of the Year.

The former Chelsea midfielder revisited the issue recently on his ObiOne podcast and went a step further, requesting that Yaya mail him the award as an act of justice.

While discussing current Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen’s chances of winning the African Player of the Year award, Mikel was reminded of his loss to Yaya in 2013 and requested justice from the Ivorian, saying, “Yeah, He needs to mail that [African Player of the Year] trophy to me." 

Mikel then stated his case as the rightful winner of the award in 2013 once again, saying, “It was my trophy to be won. I won the Africa Cup of Nations, I won the Champions League the year before that and I won the Europa League that year, while Yaya didn’t win anything.

The former Super Eagles captain revealed that he had been informed by notable people that he had won the ballot in 2013 before the ceremony, which lured him into a false sense of security.

“Coming into the ceremony, I thought I was winning,” Mikel said, adding, “The information was I was going to win it. I was the favourite to win it; my agent said ‘you’ve won it’ and I was told by CAF that I was winning it.

Mikel claims 2013 African Player of the Year was rigged in Yaya Toure’s favour

Despite the assurances to the contrary, the 2013 award was given to former Barcelona and Manchester City star Yaya Toure, a move that Mikel believes was orchestrated by former CAF president Isa Hayatou to help the Ivorian reach a major milestone in the award’s history.

Mikel continued, “But the crazy thing is that it was the first time a player would do a hat-trick of winning, so they had to give it Yaya.

“He was from Ivory Coast, and the CAF president then was Isa Hayatou, and he was from Ivory Coast.

Contrary to Mikel’s assertion, former CAF president Hayatou was Cameroonian, not Ivorian, which creates holes in his theory of why the award was given to Yaya Toure.

Nevertheless, Mikel was relentless in his claims, finally adding, “I thought I was winning because I had an amazing year, we were winning everything at Chelsea and I was playing most of the games, I was a starter, I won the Africa Cup of Nations, I had an amazing year, and I thought this was going to be my year. I think I got robbed. Definitely, I got robbed of that trophy.”

Mikel’s compatriot, Osimhen has the chance to avenge the perceived injustice this year as the favourite to scoop the African Player of the Year award, and could become the first Nigerian to win the award since Kanu Nwankwo in 1999.

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