Mikel opens up on failed Manchester United transfer

Former Super Eagles and Chelsea midfielder, John Obi Mikel, has said that age and football rules prevented him from joining Manchester United when he was a teenager.

Mikel explained that he was only 16 years old when he spent about one month training at Old Trafford. During that time, he trained regularly with the Manchester United first team.

According to him, then manager Sir Alex Ferguson wanted to sign him, but Premier League rules made it impossible.

Speaking in an interview with Sky Sports, Mikel said that at the time, non-European players could only be signed if they had played at least 75 per cent of their country’s senior national team matches.

Because he had not yet played for Nigeria’s senior team, he did not qualify. His young age also made things harder, as he was not allowed to play competitive matches for the club.

“The plan was to bring me in quietly and complete the move before I turned 18,” Mikel said.

He added that Sir Alex Ferguson strongly believed in his talent and often paired him with Roy Keane during training.

“Ferguson liked me a lot. He always put me with Roy Keane because he felt Keane would protect me from players like Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt, who tackled hard in training,” Mikel said.