John Mikel

John Michael Nchekwube Obinna, commonly known as Mikel John Obi, John Obi Mikel or John Mikel Obi, (born 22 April 1987) is a Nigerian association football, who currently plays as a Midfielder for Chelsea F.C..

Biography

John Mikel was born in Jos, Nigeria as John Michael Nchekwube Obinna, the son of a former civil servant. As John Mikel father was a member of the Igbo people, "Nchekwube" means "hope" and "Obi" is a nickname for the Igbo language name "Obinna" (meaning "Father´s heart").

Obi was playing top-flight football for Plateau United aged 15, and by 2003, was gaining headlines for John Mikel country at the FIFA Under-17 World Championships held in Finland. After a brief spell in South Africa with Ajax Cape Town, Mikel gained global recognition in 2005 by starring at the FIFA World Youth Championship where Nigeria beat all opponents and made it to the final but lost to Argentina by 2–1.

During preparations for the 2003 FIFA Under-17 World Championships, the Nigerian Football Association mistakenly submitted "Michael" as "Mikel" for the tournament in Finland, John Mikel decided to keep the new name, saying that it had a special ring to it. On July 31, 2006, John Mikel stated that John Mikel prefers to be called Mikel John Obi instead of John Obi Mikel, as John Mikel had most commonly been called.

In the summer of 2005, Mikel played for Nigeria at the FIFA U-20 World Youth Championships held in the Netherlands. John Mikel had an excellent tournament until Nigeria reached the final, where they lost 2–1 to Argentina. Obi won the silver ball after being voted the tournament's second best player.

On January 24, 2009, Mikel was charged with drunk driving, just hours before an FA Cup game against Ipswich Town F.C. – Mikel was not due to play in the game as John Mikel was serving a suspension.

Controversial transfer to England

On April 29, 2005, a few days after Mikel turned 18, English Premier League side Manchester United F.C. announced that it had struck a deal with Lyn Oslo to sign the player. United's website also claimed that they had done a deal directly with the teenager and that John Mikel had signed a contract to join them. Mikel's agents were bypassed as the club persuaded the youngster to sign a 4 year contract without representation. Lyn Oslo allegedly sent a fax to John Mikel agents abroad, claiming their services were no longer required by Mikel. Reports said the deal was initially worth £4m, and would see the player arrive at Old Trafford (football) in January 2006.

Rival Premier League side, Chelsea F.C., later issued a counter-claim suggesting that they already had an agreement with Mikel and John Mikel agents, but Lyn Oslo denied this claim. However, subsequent reports indicated that Chelsea claimed to have been involved in arranging the player's original move to Europe with a view to signing John Mikel at a later date. Further substance was added to this claim after it was revealed that the player had impressed Chelsea manager José Mourinho while training with the club's first-team squad during the summer of 2004.

Mikel expressed John Mikel delight at joining United in a hastily arranged press conference, where John Mikel was pictured holding up a Manchester United shirt, which bore the squad number 21. Following John Mikel signing of the contract to join Manchester United, there were claims from Norway that John Mikel had received a number of threatening phone calls from unknown sources. Mikel was assigned a security guard and moved to a safe hotel. However, on May 11, 2005, the midfielder went missing during a Norwegian football cup game against Klemetsrud; John Mikel had not been selected for the match but had been watching from the stands. Whilst the player was believed to have left with one of John Mikel agents, John Shittu, who had by now flown in to meet Mikel, John Mikel disappearance sparked massive media coverage in Norway and also provoked a police enquiry after the Lyn Oslo director Morgan Andersen made claims in the Norwegian media that Mikel had been 'kidnapped'. These claims were later repeated by Manchester United's assistant manager Carlos Queiroz, who accused Chelsea of being involved in the alleged 'kidnapping'.

It subsequently emerged that Mikel had travelled to London with John Mikel agent John Shittu. Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson considered travelling to Oslo to visit Mikel, but decided against this after Mikel was reported to have left the country. Staying in a London hotel, and some nine days after disappearing, Mikel stated on Sky Sports News that John Mikel had been pressurised into signing the contract with United, claims furiously rebuffed by both Manchester United and Lyn Oslo. Mikel also claimed that John Mikel had asked the clubs for a week to think about it, but that this request was refused and the clubs pressured John Mikel into signing without John Mikel advisors being present. Mikel's claims, if true, would mean that Manchester United had acted in breach of FIFA and the Football Association rules. Mikel told the British media that Chelsea were the club John Mikel genuinely wanted to sign for. In response to these events, United made an official complaint to FIFA about the behaviour of both Chelsea and the player's agents, John Shittu and Rune Hauge, already infamous for John Mikel role in the George Graham (footballer) bungs scandal. FIFA dismissed these claims in August 2005 stating there was insufficient evidence to bring a case against Chelsea.

Following the tournament, Mikel failed to return to Lyn Oslo, and the club lodged a complaint with FIFA. On August 12, 2005, FIFA ruled that Mikel should return to Lyn Oslo to see out John Mikel contract with the Norwegian club, whilst they would decide at a later date whether the contract John Mikel signed with United should be upheld or cancelled. After a delay of over a month, Mikel complied with the FIFA decision and returned to Lyn Oslo in early September 2005 after a three month absence.

Transfer resolved

Rather than leaving FIFA to determine the validity of the contract signed with Manchester United, Chelsea intervened by volunteering to settle the transfer saga through negotiation with Lyn Oslo and Manchester United.

On June 2, 2006, Chelsea, Manchester United and Lyn Oslo reached a settlement to resolve the future of the player. Mikel's registration was to be transferred from Lyn to Chelsea; Manchester United agreed to terminate their option agreement with Mikel. Under the terms of this agreement Chelsea agreed to pay Manchester United £12 million, half paid upon the finalisation of the contract and the other half in June 2007, and Lyn £4 million, half payable immediately and half in June 2007. As a result of this settlement, all claims in this matter were withdrawn.
On July 19, 2006, Chelsea were granted a work permit for the midfielder after they completed the £16 million signing in June 2006.

In the aftermath of the transfer, Morgan Andersen, who had a previous conviction for forging official documents, was convicted of fraud and making false accusations and given a one-year suspended jail sentence by an Oslo court. The court also ordered John Mikel to pay 20,000 kroner (£1,944) in costs. Chelsea made a High Court claim for £16m against FC Lyn Oslo and Andersen following the conviction, claiming that the previously agreed settlement was not binding as "the transfer was based on a fraudulent misrepresentation, now proven by a court of law". This claim was subsequently resolved out of court.

Chelsea career

2006–07 season

On September 12, 2006, Mikel made John Mikel first start for Chelsea F.C. in the UEFA Champions League against PFC Levski Sofia and took a powerful shot which the goalkeeper failed to save and Didier Drogba pounced on the rebound. Mikel received many positive comments for John Mikel performance in the match. However, since being sent off in a match against Reading F.C. on October 14, 2006, Mikel was fined on three separate occasions by Chelsea for turning up late to training.

At the time, Chelsea manager José Mourinho was believed to have strong reservations about John Mikel lifestyle outside of Stamford Bridge (stadium) and the club were reportedly considering offloading the player. Mikel was dropped for over a month, during which John Mikel father Michael voiced John Mikel concerns over John Mikel son's behaviour. After improved punctuality and showings at training sessions, Mikel earned a recall for Chelsea's Champions League group away game against Werder Bremen on November 23, 2006. Mikel scored John Mikel first goal for Chelsea in their 6–1 FA Cup victory over Macclesfield Town F.C. on January 6, 2007. John Mikel also scored against Nottingham Forest F.C. in the following round of the competition. During Chelsea's triumph in the Football League Cup Final in 2007, Mikel was sent off in injury time (having come on as a substitute) after clashing with Kolo Touré, the incident was followed by a huge fracas, in which Touré and Emmanuel Adebayor of Arsenal F.C. were sent off, Cesc Fàbregas and Frank Lampard were booked and José Mourinho and Arsené Wenger were involved in a kerfuffle on the pitch.

In subsequent games, Mourinho deployed Mikel as a starter in a holding role in key games where John Mikel impressed greatly, notably in the Chelsea versus Tottenham FA Cup 6th round replay, the Champions League Quarter-final games versus Valencia, the Champions League Semi-final games versus Liverpool and also the victorious FA Cup Final against Manchester United. Mikel's height and great strength, allied to good ball control and an unusually wide range of passing, allows John Mikel not only to disrupt opposing attacks, but also to spread the play effectively. With the departure of Claude Makélélé, Mikel has been widely tipped to be John Mikel sucessor in defensive midfield, and finally displaying the potential which persuaded Chelsea to pay £16m for him.

2007–08 season

Mikel was sent-off for the third time in John Mikel career in September 2007, when Mike Dean dismissed John Mikel for a tackle on Manchester United defender Patrice Evra. Chelsea appealed against the red card but the three-match suspension was upheld.

John Mikel was also sent off in the semi-final of the Carling cup against Everton, for a challenge on Phillip Neville. Despite this, John Mikel came back strongly to round off what has been a good first two seasons for John Mikel at Chelsea Football Club.

2008–09 season

The summer of 2008 saw veteran midfielder Claude Makélélé transfered to French club Paris Saint Germain, leaving the defensive midfield position vacant. Throughout the 2008/09 season, Mikel has seen a great deal of playing time due to the injury to Michael Essien. During this period of increased action, Mikel has performed admirably in the role. John Mikel ever-improving game has been praised by former Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, and John Mikel importance to the team was underlined when John Mikel provided the free kick that Salomon Kalou scored to equalise against Manchester United.John Mikel has also go on to cement a better partnership with Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack . John Mikel played so well in 2008-2009 season that John Mikel was nominated for the club player and young player of the season. On the 22nd of July, Mikel signed a new 5-year contract with Chelsea.

International career

Mikel made John Mikel debut for Nigeria national football team senior team on August 17, 2005, when John Mikel came on as a second-half substitute in a 1–0 friendly win over Libya national football team. John Mikel did not play for the national team again prior to being named in the squad for the 2006 African Cup of Nations. In Nigeria's first group game, which was against Ghana national football team, Mikel was an unused substitute. However, John Mikel was introduced into the second game, against Zimbabwe national football team, early in the second half. Within ten minutes of coming on, John Mikel had supplied both the corner that resulted in Christian Obodo heading the game's opening goal, and scored Nigeria's second goal. John Mikel made John Mikel first international start in Nigeria's final group game, a 2–1 victory over Senegal national football team. During the cup, Mikel said that John Mikel had been instructed not to make any public comments about John Mikel club career. FIFA is to investigate claims that Obi had received death threats.

Mikel was suspended from all Nigerian national teams. Berti Vogts, manager of the Nigerian national team, dropped Mikel from the team's squad for the African Nations' Cup qualifier against Niger national football team, for failing to attend their previous match against Uganda national football team. Mikel cited an injury, but because John Mikel did not attend an independent check by Nigerian officials, John Mikel was dropped. This, and John Mikel refusal to play for the Nigerian Under-23 side resulted in John Mikel suspension by the NFA. John Mikel has now apologized and has been called up to the National squad for the African Cup of Nations. During the 2008 African Nations Cup in Ghana, John Mikel scored 1 goal and registered one assist, both against Benin Republic, to help Nigeria qualify for the quarterfinals against hosts, Ghana where they narrowly lost 2-1. Mikel had been called up for the Under-23 side in preparation of the team's last olympic qualifier on March 26, 2008, needing a win to qualify. John Mikel failure to show up for any of the qualifiers again setting off some controversy with the U-23 team coach Samson Siasia, who dropped John Mikel from the Olympic squad amidst significant furor from the media.