Middlesbrough midfielder John Obi Mikel has been voted by you as the 36th best player in the EFL.
Over the last month, we have been gathering votes from you to find the best managers and players in the EFL. And after counting the votes, we have discovered you think that Obi Mikel is the 28th best player in the Football League. This is the first time that he has been on the Top 50 Players countdown.
This January transfer window saw one of the shock signings of the season. Middlesbrough were able to sign Obi Mikel, a midfielder who was once a key midfielder for Chelsea. He had spent 11 years at Stamford Bridge and while he had his poor moments and time spent out in the cold, he is a fondly remembered player at Chelsea for playing his part when winning honours such as the Premier League and the Champions League. When he moved to Tianjin in China, people thought that was it for his career until he was released and made a surprise return to England to sign for Middlesbrough.
And if you thought that the slower pace of the Chinese game would make Obi Mikel a worse player, you were given another shock when you saw him. While definitely not as good as when he played for Chelsea, he was still a defensive midfielder very few could get past and a key part of the way Tony Pulis got this Middlesbrough playing. He made 19 appearances for Middlesbrough this season and capped off his contract with a goal against Rotherham United.
