Ex-Chelsea Ace Mikel Off To Qatar For Rehab After Hernia OP, Rules Himself Out Of Action For One Month

John Obi Mikel is racing against the clock to be fit for Nigeria's African Cup of Nations qualifier against South Africa in Uyo on June 10.

An experienced European surgeon operated on the versatile midfielder in England this past weekend, and it has been estimated that he'll need at least three weeks to recover and start full training with his teammates at Tianjin Teda, but the Nigeria captain is being conservative.

''My injury is muscle strain and hernia, I hope to always be in the field for the team to make them stronger, so I have been enduring the pain,'' Mikel was quoted as saying by sohu.com.

''But two weeks ago I completely hurt the groin muscles, and also the emergence of hernia, so I have to choose surgery.''

The Tianjin Teda captain added : ''I had surgery yesterday (Saturday), surgery was successful, muscle strain and hernia were done with both surgery.

''I'm not sure when I can go back to Tianjin, I may rejoin a month later, before that I may go to Qatar to do rehabilitation, so I can be in a good physical state, I will return to the team.''

Without the important Mikel, Tianjin Teda have won only once, against Yanbian Funde, lost two matches against Guangzhou Evergrande and Hebei CFFC, and drew once against Guizhou Zhicheng.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel