What a man. There are so many remarkably talented players like Mata, Özil, Dybala (etc.) who don't particularly fit into the football structure du jour where you think 'if only he had been born ten years earlier...' Mikel was one of the few who was born too early. (I always thought he would have made a world-class Guardiola centre-back - latter day Hiddink had the right idea.)
Mikel in his prime would be the first name on the teamsheet in our current midfield. It's a shame Conte was such a d**khead that we never got to see him paired properly with Kanté.
Thanks for the many, many years of metronomic reliability and precision. Thanks for the European Cup. Thanks for always making Michael Carrick look sh*t. Thanks in particular for the opportunity to fight the good fight against all the ignorant peasants who didn't rate you. Hope you become the best manager in the world one day.
I guess that's me done with football then. See you all in the next life.