Former Nigeria international John Obi Mikel has revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson has finally forgiven him for rejecting Manchester United‘s offer nearly 18 years back to join Chelsea.
In 2005, Mikel signed with Manchester United and even appeared at a press conference wearing the club’s shirt before Chelsea swooped in. The former Super Eagles midfielder eventually joined Chelsea in 2006 under Jose Mourinho, with the Blues paying a £12m settlement to Manchester United to secure the transfer.
Mikel previously shared that he was terrified when he saw Ferguson following the U-turn, describing how the Scottish manager gave him a death stare. However, the two were recently reunited at the Champions League final at Wembley, where Mikel shared that Ferguson had finally forgiven him.
Speaking on talkSPORT, the 37-year-old said, “It’s so good for the boss to finally forgive me after such a long time, Mikel said.
“He mentioned it [the saga] a couple of times [during his career], it was like, ‘You were the one that got away, weren’t you?’ But he’s a lovely, lovely man, and at 82 years old, he’s still strong.
“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, I wouldn’t say anything wrong about that, but I forgive you now.’”
Mikel further revealed to talkSPORT that he had signed a pre-contract with Manchester United before turning 18. United had persuaded him to sign a four-year contract, bypassing his agents, with the expectation that he would join Old Trafford in January 2006.
“Well, I can’t tell you the whole story because we would be here all week! I signed for the club.
“United came with the contract; I think Sir Alex sent over a scout to help with the contract, like a pre-contract. I wasn’t 18 then, so I wasn’t allowed to sign a professional contract, so I signed a pre-contract with United. Then, of course, Chelsea did send me to Norway to school and then play and train with one of the professional teams there.”
Mikel added, “Then when they (Chelsea) saw the whole news on the TV, ‘Oh, what’s happening here? Well, Mikel has signed for United, a pre-contract.’ Of course, they had to send the agents, everybody down to Oslo to find out what’s happened.
“They came down, and that’s when I was taken away from the club to somewhere hidden for a couple of hours, and nobody knew where I was. Then 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.”
Mikel missed a year of football while the issue was resolved before he eventually switched to Chelsea in 2006.
The Nigeria international Mikel enjoyed a lengthy spell at Chelsea, remaining at the club until 2017. In total, he played 372 times for Chelsea, scoring six goals, and won the Champions League, two Premier League titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups, and the Europa League.