Man Utd or Chelsea? Former Super Eagles midfielder Mikel reveals the club his family wanted him to join 

Former Super Eagles midfielder John Obi Mikel has revealed that his family wanted him to join Manchester United instead of Chelsea.

Mikel's transfer to Chelsea in 2006 would rank as one of the most high profile transfer soap operas involving a Nigerian player.

Manchester United made the first move to sign Mikel after the central midfielder impressed their scouts at the UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup in Egypt, and he was invited to train at Carrington before the 2003 Fifa U17 World Cup.

But Chelsea hijacked United's move for the former Super Eagles captain, sending him to Norwegian outfit Lyn in order to meet the requirements for a UK work permit.

The Red Devils wanted to sign one of the most precocious talents in world football back then but did not negotiate with Mikel's bonafide agent John Shittu.

The transfer imbroglio was later resolved after Chelsea agreed to pay a combined fee of £16 million to Manchester United and Lyn.  

"Of course the biggest club back then was obviously Manchester United and every kid you speak to growing up wants to play for Manchester United," Mikel said on The Obi One Podcast.

"This young new vibrant manager just coming to the Premier League, Jose Mourinho, the special one, managing Chelsea and has won the league back-to-back, and then you're sitting there thinking, 'should I play for the biggest manager in the world Sir Alex Ferguson or should I join a new vibrant manager?'

"I had to make that decision. For me, it was not an easy decision because you have family members saying, 'what are you doing, go to Manchester United'.

"You have your friends saying 'go to Manchester United, they are the biggest club in the world. You are going to become the first Nigerian player to play for Manchester United.

"For me to make that decision of going to Chelsea was a massive decision. I was saying this is my decision I'm going to live with, I'm going to go with this and it's paid out really well."

Mikel played for Chelsea between 2006 and 2017, recording 372 appearances in all competitions.

He left Chelsea for Tianjin Jinmen Tiger, having won the Premier League twice, the FA Cup four times, the League Cup twice, and the Champions League and Europa League. 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

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