Middlesbrough midfielder Mikel John Obi feels he left Chelsea for China too soon in his career.

The Nigeria captain has opened up about his difficult couple of years in China and explained why he "had to come back" to English football.

"It was two years of a huge culture shock," Mikel told the Telegraph. "The food was a problem, the lifestyle, the style in which everything was done.

"When you have been at a club like Chelsea in the Premier League for 11 years, it was very hard to adapt to how things were done. It isn't at the elite level, let's put it that way.

"The pitches were poor, stadiums are poor, and the medical facilities were not what I was used to. I'm not saying it's all the Chinese clubs, some of them are quite professional, but the one I was at, it wasn't as professional as it should have been. It became tough for me almost straight away. I wouldn't say I regretted it, I had a good time with my team-mates, but it was never easy.

"The standard of football, it's not even Championship standard. I realised that very quickly. It's a league that wants to grow, they are putting a lot of money in, but it is a long way behind."