You would never get a game at Chelsea, Jay-Jay

Celestine Babayaro has known the Bolton midfielder since the left-back made his Nigeria debut as a skinny 17-year-old eight years ago and is full of praise for his country's captain.

Okocha's range of passing and drive from midfield were instrumental to his club's survival last season and should guide them to safety this time around, but after that he could bid farewell to Bolton. The 30-yearold's contract expires in the summer and there is a growing feeling that he wants to end his career at a bigger club, such as the one he will face at Stamford Bridge tomorrow.

A year ago, Chelsea would have jumped at the chance to sign a player of Okocha's calibre on a free transfer, but not even Babayaro will recommend his friend to Claudio Ranieri.

He said: "Jay-Jay has great skills and the ability to pass the ball, but you need more than that these days, such as pace and strength.

"He's Bolton's one star but we have a team of stars and that's the big difference. If you asked the manager at the moment if he wanted a player like Jay-Jay he'd probably say there are too many players here already.

"Jay-Jay's pulling off all the tricks for Bolton as they're a small team, but if he came to Chelsea he'd be the man. If you're an average player in a good team you look the business - the other players will make you look really good.

"His skills would improve by playing alongside those great players. But we've got enough already."

Not that Babayaro doesn't appreciate Okocha's rare ability. The Nigeria captain has more tricks and flicks than a performing seal and, along with Joe Cole and Zinedine Zidane, appears on Soccer AM's Showboat feature every Saturday morning.

Okocha spent his childhood selling oranges on the streets of his home town Enugu, in southern Nigeria, but his profits were damaged by his habit of juggling the fruit with his feet.

Fortunately for local orange lovers his talent was spotted and rewarded with contracts at Eintracht Frankfurt, Fenerbahce and Paris St-Germain before last year's move to Bolton, but he has retained his unorthodox habits. Even his own team-mates are often left openmouthed after seeing him dance with the ball in training.

Babayaro said: "Jay-Jay is the Nigerian player of the year and deserves that recognition. He has shown great character, scored a load of different goals and his free-kicks are superb. He's always showing off in training, especially when Kanu is in the same team. We all watch from the sidelines and can't believe it. They like to show their stuff together, taking the mickey every now and again.

"Every player has different types of skill but it depends who's got the balls to show it in a game. It's all about doing it at the right time - matching skills with character."

Like many great players Okocha's contribution is most keenly felt in his absence. The Bolton captain will miss at least six Premiership games when he leads Nigeria in the African Nations Cup at the start of next year, creating a gap that cannot be easily filled by manager Sam Allardyce.

Chelsea will lose Babayaro and Cameroon midfielder Geremi to the tournament in Tunisia, but such is the size of the squad at Ranieri's disposal they will scarcely be missed.

Babayaro admitted: "Jay-Jay is the main man in Bolton and they'll miss him, but Chelsea will be okay without me and Geremi. The team has loads of stars and may not notice we've gone for a month.

"It's different for Bolton, Jay-Jay's their captain and it will be hard for them to replace him. We have two or three players in every position."

Babayaro has been a peripheral figure this season at Chelsea and it is easy to forget that he is the club's longest-serving player. The 25-year-old was signed by Ruud Gullit from Anderlecht seven years ago.

He said: "There's a massive difference between then and now. We had good players but not the team spirit and determination to do really well. We've got that at the moment and it's why we're winning games.

"When I was growing up in Nigeria I'd never heard of Chelsea, it was all about Man United and Liverpool. Even when I played in Belgium I didn't hear much about Chelsea. That's all changed and even new-born babies have heard of Chelsea these days."

Babayaro has played in the past two games, against Reading in the Carling Cup and Besiktas in the Champions League, but will be rested tomorrow. Eidur Gudjohnsen (ankle) misses out against his old club but Hernan Crespo should return from a calf injury.