Nearly two decades after one of football’s most dramatic transfer sagas, John Obi Mikel has revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson has forgiven him for his controversial move to Chelsea. Initially signing for Manchester United in 2005, Mikel was seen wearing the club’s shirt during press conference before Chelsea swooped in. Eyeing future deal they acted quickly when their Premier League rivals announced the move.
In previous interview with talkSPORT, Mikel disclosed that he told Ferguson that he didn’t mean to sign for United in “feisty” meeting. However 18 years later, the pair reunited at Wembley for the Champions League final, and the former midfielder revealed that all is forgiven. “He mentioned it a couple of times during his career.”
It was like ‘You were the one that got away, aren’t you?’ But he’s lovely lovely man and 82 years old, he’s still strong” Mikel said. “I told him, ‘We want to have you here as much as we can for as long as we can.’ And he’s like, ‘Listen you got away but you had an amazing career with Chelsea. So I wouldn’t say anything wrong about that, but I definitely forgive you now.”
Mikel’s Dramatic Transfer Sagas
Mikel provided further insight into transfer saga. Describing it as a complex and tumultuous period. “Well I can’t tell you the whole story because we’re going to be here all week” Mikel began. He explained that he signed pre-contract with United because he wasn’t 18 yet and couldn’t sign professional contract.
Chelsea then sent him to Norway where he played and trained with one of the professional teams there. When the news of his pre-contract with United broke, Chelsea sent agents to Oslo to figure out what happened.
“I was taken away from the club. I was sort of taken away somewhere hidden for like a couple hours and nobody knew where I was” Mikel recalled. “Then finally I got flown out to London by Chelsea and locked away somewhere. So it went on for about a year trying to sort it out.” During this time, Mikel missed a year of football. “I missed a year of football as well. It wasn’t sorted for like a year. It dragged on for a year. It wasn’t sorted out. So I missed a year of football. So that was really really tough for my family. Everybody was so worried.”
Reflecting on reunion with Ferguson Mikel shared. “18 years later I met boss again and we talked about it. Joked about it. It was fun because he was there with David Gill [former CEO] who of course did transfers for United. He was like, ‘This transfer made me have grey hairs.’ So yeah it was funny. We talked about it. Laughed about it. It was good.”
Mikel went on to make 372 appearances for Chelsea across all competitions. Scoring six goals from midfield. He won two Premier League titles four FA Cups, two League Cups Champions League and Europa League during his glittering spell with club.
