“He has already trained with Roy Keane, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt. He was already putting on a Manchester United Jersey in a Press Conference”- John Obi Mikel explains what really happened and why he left Manchester United to Chelsea knowing that Sir Alex Ferguson really wanted him.

Jon Obi Mikel has revealed what happened when he told Sir Alex Ferguson he wanted to join Manchester United over Chelsea.Mikel initially joined United before changing his mind and deciding to join their bitter rivals.He signed a pre-contract with the club in 2005 when he played at Norwegian outfit Lyn. The Nigeria international trained with iconic midfield trio Roy Keane, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt during his time in England.Images of Mikel in a Red Devils shirt are online, and he even held a press conference ahead of the transfer.

Chelsea later claimed they’d agreed a deal with the player and his agents, which Lyn denied. Mikel later decided he’d prefer to move to Stamford Bridge and joined Jose Mourinho’s side in a deal that cost £16 million in total.The Blues paid Lyn £4 million for Mikel and then paid £14 million to United following the controversy.Mikel sat down with Jim White and Simon Jordan on talkSPORT to break down exactly what happened with the deal, in addition to Ferguson’s reaction. It’s safe to say the legendary Scot wasn’t happy.

The Champions League winner also says he was told Ferguson would try to ‘brainwash him’ into joining United.He explained: “I did have a meeting with Fergie at the FA office in London because the FA also wanted to get involved and was like, ‘We need to get this player playing, he’s a young player, he needs to play football.'”It was just me and him in a room, yeah that was feisty that. I had my agent sitting outside and he was like, ‘When you go into this meeting, because he’s going to try to brainwash, everything he says, just make sure you say no.’

“So I went into that office, into that meeting, so everything he was saying I was like, ‘Ah, I’m sorry boss, I can’t play for United, it was a mistake, I didn’t mean to sign.’ It was a long table, he was sitting right over there and I was sitting at the edge of the table.

“He was sitting at the other edge, I could see him go red, he was like, ‘Are you sure you don’t want to play for United, the biggest club in the world?’ He’s like, ‘What is it you want, do you want more money? What is it you want, I’ll give it to you.'”I was like, ‘Sorry boss, I can’t play for United, I want to go to Chelsea.’ So we had about 20 or 30 minutes in the room and he walked off and then that was it.ADVERT”He walked away, and then the next couple of weeks he was like, ‘OK, well I’m not going to let him go for free,’ so [Chelsea paid] £14million to United and £4m to Lyn.”Mikel went on to play 372 times for Chelsea, winning 10 major honours. At international level, he won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013.