UPDATE: ‘I didn’t want to join Man Utd’ – Mikel Obi on infamous transfer saga

Chelsea legend, John Obi Mikel has opened up about his infamous transfer saga involving Chelsea and Manchester United.

Mikel was involved in a transfer battle between the two English giants shortly before the 2005 U-20 Youth Championship, where he was voted as the second-best player of the tournament.

In an interview with TalkSPORT, Mikel stated that he never wanted to join Manchester United, despite meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson, who was United’s manager at the time.

After the transfer saga, Mikel officially joined Chelsea on June 2, 2006, after the West London side reached an agreement to pay Manchester United £12 million and Lyn £4 million.

Hia words: “I did the press conference, and it was everywhere. Then obviously Roman [Abramovich], everybody at Chelsea saw it, and they were like, ‘What’s going on here? We’ve been looking at this player for two or three years now; what’s happening here?’

“Obviously, they sent my agent down to Lyn, and then he came down to Norway, and then for a couple of hours I went missing. He took me out of my apartment, where I used to live with a couple of my friends.

“He was like, ‘We need to go back to London; I need to get you out of Norway right now because what you’ve done right now is so much of a problem with Chelsea, and Roman is not happy.’ So my agent took me to a hotel, and then the next morning we flew down to London, and the rest was history.”

Speaking further, Mikel stated that the presence of African players was a reason he chose Chelsea, and he wanted a place where he could create his own history.

“I wanted to go somewhere where I could help create history; if I went to United, I wouldn’t have been part of the team that’s won the Champions League first in London; we were the first team to win it in London.

“For me, it was about creating my own history because, obviously, United were the biggest club. It was really how I felt. I looked at both clubs, and, you know, United had won so much.

“So, I needed to go somewhere where I could create history with the players. Back then as well, they had the likes of Michael Essien, Didier Drogba, and other African players going to Chelsea.

“For me, I looked at that and was like, ‘OK, where am I going to feel more comfortable and where am I going to create my own history?’”

Mikel made 372 appearances, winning 11 major trophies for the club over an 11-year period, before leaving in 2017. He retired from football in 2021.