This must be what all that fuss was about in the first place. John Obi Mikel’s £16m move from Lyn Oslo to Chelsea, via a Manchester United contract, was an ugly affair. Both clubs fought hard for a player who was clearly one of the world’s top talents. At the under-20 World Cup just before the deal, only Leo Messi had impressed more than the hulking Nigerian, and Frank Arnesen fought vehemently to secure his services. Managing to split the opinions of his own fans, and PL audiences in general, Mikel is starting to show why there was such a battle in the first place.

As an attacking midfielder for his country (pretty unbelievable considering some of his efforts on goal), Mikel was the youth team’s long term answer to Jay-Jay Okocha’s retirement. As with almost everything Mourinho touched at Chelsea during his time in West London, there were more defensive matters to be dealt with first: thus dictator, became destroyer. Mourinho already had Lampard and Essien, and Makelele was just about entering the twilight of his position-defining career; Mikel’s stature, married with neat touches on the ball, made him the ideal candidate to become chief bouncer at the door of Chelsea’s backline.

Before Stamford Bridge was recording score lines more suited for under-11 games, negativity was the main accusation to make of the outfit, and Mikel, without the rampant box to box play of Essien, was becoming the scapegoat: still excellent at his primary role, it was considered there were too many sideways passes, not enough impetus to drive the team on from deep. Under Ancelotti, and now especially that Essien has returned to partner him, rather than the mechanic Michael Ballack, that role has evolved into a more creative, positive duty.

At 6”3” his aerial ability has never been in question, and his strength is there for all to see. But it is his passing (direction more so than quality) that has seen the biggest transformation. Just under 40% of his passes now go forward, more than double the rate of last season, and what is more, his completion rate of 73.1% is more than other player in the league so far this season.

The adaptability between himself and Essien allows for greater fluidity in the middle of this Chelsea side. There is still the considerable weight to throw around as the league’s heaviest squad, but there is an extra vibrancy to accompany this virility. When Lampard returns to the fold, it will be a formidable threesome, and arguably the most potent combination of defence and attack in the league.

Mikel is not the only big improvement in the PL this season: Nani continues to grow (how much so? We will discuss tomorrow), Elmander suddenly looks like an international striker, Vincent Kompany has gone about his business commandingly while the big names around him grab the headlines, and United’s aloof Bulgarian is reminding everyone just how good he was at White Hart Lane. But you get the feeling with that list that they were simply underperforming, while Mikel was doing what had been drilled in to him, rather than the natural game he was used to, at the expense of his own reputation.

The fact that Michael Essien is already adding goals to his game makes it look as though Mikel will forever stay in the shade of his teammates’ limelight, and perhaps that is where is happiest. Any Chelsea fans that were somewhat perplexed by their nullifier, will now be witness to the fact that it was he that was being nullified. Given the license of expression, Mikel is now really proving, if it wasn’t known to already, that it was money well spent.

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