12yrs after, John Mikel Obi reveals what actually happened in his transfer saga with Chelsea and Manchester United (Details, pics)

One of the biggest transfer sagas football ever saw was the transfer battle between Manchester United and Chelsea to sign a 15 years old Nigerian, John Obi Mikel. Two of the biggest football clubs in the world fought so had for Mikel who was making waves for himself at Lyn Oslo in Norway.

He was whisked away in a James Bond-style operation involving decoy cars to a secret meeting at then Chelsea boss Mourinho’s house. Despite that United offered him a staggering £1.5million contract even though he had only just left school.

The Nigerian international turned Fergie down twice and made it clear is heart was with Jose Mourinho and Chelsea.

"I trained with the first team,” he recalls. “Roy Keane was my bodyguard.

“Paul Scholes and Nicky always tried to kick me but couldn’t when Roy was there because he’d have killed them. "Sir Alex called me Obi Wan (after the Star Wars character)."He called me into his office one day and said: ‘Obi Wan, do you know what Keane, Scholes and all the senior players have told me? They said you have to sign that boy’.

"I couldn’t believe it. Here was I, a school kid from Africa, training with some of the best in the world.”

“I had agents promising me everything,” Mikel recalls. “One approached me in the hotel with a briefcase full of cash. “It was crammed with $70,000 (£53,000) and he offered me that to sign some contract before adding: ‘Sign here and you’ll get a lot more’.
"I can’t remember what club he claimed to represent, but I do remember the briefcase.

"He told me to ignore this agent but promised I would join the best club. After the tournament I went home to my family and then saw the secretary again in Abuja. "I was tempted. I’d never seen so much money but I told the Nigerian FA secretary who was looking after me.“That’s when he told me: ‘You’re going to United. They want you and you’re leaving tomorrow’.

“My dad was so happy but mum was crying because I was moving abroad at such a young age.”

"Sir Alex really liked me,” says Mikel. “He made me feel really comfortable and encouraged me every day. "He would call me into his office after training, point at the players’ plush cars in the car park and say: ‘If you work hard, next year you’ll be driving one of those. You are going to play for this club and you are going to be rich’.

"I didn’t know what to say. I was still at school so I didn’t even have an agent. The twist in the transfer came when the young Nigerian sensation met agent, John Shittu, the agent represented Chelsea's interest and told him the Blues wanted him. "I went home again and Sir Alex used to phone a hotel near our house when he wanted to speak to me.”

"I’d heard nothing from United so I agreed to go,” says Mikel. “I was training with Chelsea’s first team and then we were sent to Ajax Cape Town in South Africa.”

Mikel then signed Shittu as his agent and, after seven months, the player was moved to Norway, to train with Lyn Oslo, managed by ex-United star Henning Berg.

“The whole thing was so confusing,” says Mikel. “I thought I had something with Chelsea but United told me they had been looking for me and then Sir Alex visited me.

On turning 18, Mikel signed a pro contract with Lyn Oslo, but after playing just half a dozen matches Fergie flew out to speak to him.

Before I knew it, a contract had been sent to Lyn Oslo. United were offering me £1.5m for three years. I spoke to my dad, who told me I should just go for it.”

"He said: ‘We want you, we don’t want to lose you again’. “Chelsea saw it on TV and went crazy,” he says. “I later discovered they had an agreement with Lyn Oslo not to sell me to any other club.

A contract was quickly arranged for Mikel and he was unveiled in 2005 as a Manchester United player.

“All this was very hard for me. I was so young, we flew to London. I remember thinking: ‘I’ve signed for United but now I’m flying to Chelsea!’.”“Then John flew to Oslo to speak to me. My friends were calling me and then I thought, maybe I had been manipulated.

“I stayed in a house that Chelsea paid for but didn’t kick a ball for any club for a year,” he says. Despite not playing club football, Mikel was invited into the Senior National team The Super Eagles and he helped them to the Semi final of the Nations Cup in Egypt in 2006After the teenager got back to England, he was summoned to a meeting with then Premier League chief Sir Dave Richards.

"He offered to help me,” recalls Mikel. “He told me it was making enemies between the two big clubs.

“I told him I wanted to play for Chelsea and he said he would help resolve it. Then I had a secret meeting with Mourinho at his house. "Roman Abramovich organised six cars to get me there. It was like a military operation.

“Once there, Jose told me: ‘The boss really wants you. I’ll play you and make you what you want to be’. That really helped as there were times when I thought: ‘Have I made the right decision?’.”

"I started in one car, then the drivers would talk to each other and suddenly I was dropped off and then picked up by another car.

But not before Mikel had another meeting with Fergie, seven days after his chat with Mourinho and not before Barcelona tried to hijack the deal.

The whole crazy affair was resolved when Chelsea forked out £4m to Lyn Oslo and £12m compensation to United.

“Fergie said: ‘If it’s money, I can give you what you want’. "But it was never about the money,” insists Mikel, "I had Barca waiting to pounce if the legal wrangle couldn’t be sorted, but felt obliged to sign for Chelsea as they’d looked after me.

"I heard nothing from United after my trials but Chelsea looked after me and my family. I had a loyalty to them. "Sir Alex did shake my hand on one visit to Old Trafford. I remember what he said when asked how it felt to lose me: ‘He is still going to play for me one day’.

”However Mikel never played for Manchester United but went on to have an illustrious career with the London club winning League titles, Champions League, Europa League FA Cups and League cups.

Mikel put his impressive Chelsea career to a halt in January 2017 when he joined Chinese outfit Tianjin TEDA F.C.