A former Chelsea player says not signing for Manchester United was one of the best decisions he has ever made.
John Obi Mikel, who retired from professional football just over a week ago, signed for Chelsea in 2006 under incredibly strange circumstances.
The Nigerian midfielder had signed for United, participated in a press conference and showed off a shirt with number 21.
Chelsea then hijacked the deal, claiming that Obi Mikel signed his United contract without representation. Obi Mikel supported these suggestions that he was pressured into signing a contract with United.
In fact, United had announced that they bypassed their agents to convince the 18-year-old to sign a four-year deal with the club.
A year later, the transfer saga was resolved. Chelsea agreed to settle the dispute by paying Obi Mikel’s (Lyn 1896) Norwegian club £4m, while Roman Abramovich gave the Glazers £12m as compensation.
Although he could miss out on being part of perhaps the greatest team in Premier League history (Sir Alex Ferguson’s second three-time champions and Champions League finalists three times in four years), Obi Mikel insists he has no regrets. of his decision to withdraw from a move to Old Trafford.
He told BBC Sport Africa,
“I don’t regret any decision I made because I enjoyed everything I achieved at Chelsea, it’s the best decision I’ve ever made in my life.
“I signed a pre-contract for Manchester United when I was 17 years old. If you are a child and you see Sir Alex Ferguson right in front of you with the contract, of course you will be tempted.
Obi Mikel won two Premier League trophies and a Champions League title with Chelsea.
Although he claims that Sir Alex’s great personality and aura acted as a pressure point for him to originally sign for United, Obi Mikel went on to deal with another former United manager who has a great character.
“[José] Mourinho decided that he wanted me to play in the defensive midfield position. At the end of the day, he is the coach and he made the decision.”
“[Claude] Makélélé had just finished his career at Chelsea, so Mourinho wanted me to take over from Makélélé.”
Obi Mikel is now working with a project (‘Back2Base’) located in the capital of his home country, Lagos, which aims to boost the profiles of young Nigerian footballers.
