John Obi Mikel

John Obi Mikel, a Nigerian midfielder, had one of the most shocking and controversial soccer transfers to have ever happened. Mikel played for Lyn, a Norwegian team from 2004-2006 where he played a very important role in the team. So, impressed by his skills, clubs were willing to get him to the Premier League.

In April 2005, a few days after Mikel turned 18, Manchester United announced that that they had signed Mikel for $4 million.They claimed that he had signed a four year contract to join the team. During this signing, Mikel’s agents were bypassed. Chelsea, United’s rival, later claimed that they had made an agreement with Mikel’s agents about signing him as he had apparently impressed Chelsea while training with their first team.

As this controversy blew up, Mikel held a small conference, where he spoke about his admiration for Manchester United and, he held a Man United jersey number 21 in his hands. During this episode of controversies, it is claimed that Mikel received life threatening phone calls from unknown sources. For this very resaon, John Obi Mikel was assigned a security guard. However, on May 11, 2005, Mikel went missing during a Norwegian Cup match against Klemetsrud. Mikel had apparently gone missing with one of his agents, but the director of Lyn reported Mikel’s disappearance as a “kidnapping”. Manchester United started blaming Chelsea for the kidnapping of Mikel.

The disappeared Mikel was reportedly staying at a hotel in London, where he stayed for nine days along with his agent John Shittu. Mikel later stated on Sky Sports that he had beenpressured to sign for Manchester United, these claims were rebuffed by Manchester United and Lyn. He also stated that Chelsea was the team he always wanted to play for. In response to this controversy, Manchester United lodged a complaint to FIFA about the behavior of Chelsea and Mikel’s agents. But, FIFA dismissed the case on the basis of insufficient evidence against Chelsea.

After the end of the Norwegian soccer season, Mikel refused to come back to Lyn, for this the club lodged a complaint against him to FIFA. FIFA ruled that Mikel return to Lyn and play the remainder of the season. Mikel came back after a three month absence to continue playing for Lyn, till his future was decided.

The decision of Lyn’s future rested in the hands of three clubs, Lyn, Manchester United and Chelsea. The clubs came to an agreement that the player would be signed by Chelsea and in return, Chelsea would pay Manchester $12 million and Lyn $4 million.

Finally, in September 2006, Mikel made his debut for Chelsea, where he went on to play for the next nine successful seasons.