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John Obi Mikel, (born April 22 1987), is a
Nigerian Football (soccer)|footballer who
currently plays in Norway for F.C. Lyn Oslo. In
April 2005 a bidding war was initiated for his
signature by England|English Premier League sides
Chelsea F.C.|Chelsea and Manchester United
F.C.|Manchester United, with Manchester United
eventually signing a deal (believed to be worth
around £4 million) with Lyn Oslo which would see
the player arrive at Old Trafford (football)|Old
Trafford in January 2006. Chelsea later issued a
counter-claim suggesting that they had made a
similar agreement with the player, although Lyn
Oslo refuted this claim. Chelsea had been involved
in arranging the players move to Europe.

Following Mikel's agreement to join Manchester
United and signing a contract confirming this, 
Mikel received a number of threatening phone
calls. Mikel was assigned a security guard and
moved to a Safe house|safe hotel following these
threats. However, on May 11 the midfielder went
missing during a Norwegian football cup|Norwegian
cup game against Klemetsrud, he had not been
selected for the match but had been watching from
the stands. Whilst the player was believed to be
with one of his agents his disappearance sparked
massive media coverage in Norway and also provoked
a police enquiry. Manchester United manager Alex
Ferguson considered travelling to Oslo to discuss
the situation with Mikel, (he decided against this
after Mikel was reported to have left the
country).  Mikel was found to be in hiding in a
London hotel, although his agents have denied that
they are pressuring him to sign for Chelsea
instead.

== External links ==

*
http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,1563,1
483363,00.html United call for probe into Mikel
saga (The Guardian, 13 May 2005)