Mikel John Obi says two Man Utd players were hardest to stop and includes surprise name, makes medals admission

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Manchester United famously came close to signing Mikel John Obi before the Nigerian made a controversial move to Chelsea.

Most young aspiring players would dream to have a professional club looking to sign them. Back in 2006, Mikel John Obi’s dream turned sour when two of England’s biggest clubs got into a bitter fight over his signature.

The midfielder lost around a year of game time while his transfer from Norwegian side Lyn was finalised, with Manchester United eventually losing out to Chelsea, despite believing at one stage they had a cast-iron agreement for his signature.

Sir Alex Ferguson was left fuming, with Mikel John Obi this week telling Rio Ferdinand‘s Five that the Scot stormed out of a mediation meeting organised by the FA, “He walked out of the meeting and said ‘you are going to regret this’, and just left.”

Does Mikel John Obi regret not signing for Manchester United

Mikel John Obi went on to enjoy a strong career at Chelsea, where he spent 11 years between 2006 and 2017. He won two Premier League titles in 2009/10 and 2014/15, four FA Cups, two League Cups, one Champions League and one Europa League.

Naturally, he is not unhappy with how his career turned out. He had two very good choices and did not allow the controversy regarding his signature to have a negative impact.

Asked if he regretted not signing for Manchester United, the midfielder admitted he may have more medals in his collection if he had made the move to Old Trafford.

He said: “I wouldn’t say that [I regret it], I know you’ve mentioned my trophies and the big man here (Rio) you’ve won way more, if I had gone to United, would I have won a bit more trophies. more Champions Leagues, absolutely, and enjoy my time at the club, but at Chelsea we had lots of memories and we won a lot.”

Two Manchester United opponents he found difficult to stop

Manchester United and Chelsea had plenty of battles through the early 2000s, with Sir Alex Ferguson doing battle with Jose Mourinho and the Special One’s successors.

Mikel found himself plunged into the heart of the developing rivalry in 2006, just as Manchester United were bouncing back from a brief lull in success. Only a controversial offside goal scored by Didier Drogba in 2010 prevented the Red Devils from winning five Premier League titles in a row.

He says there were two Manchester United players he found particularly difficult to deal with, Wayne Rooney, and perhaps a slightly surprising selection, Park Ji-Sung.

The retired star explains: “What a guy [Rooney], technically very good, physically strong, you can’t get him off the ball. He had a freedom to roam on the pitch, you never know where he is, he’s running behind defenders, for us Rooney was the guy.

“Mourinho was like ‘Mikel, you need to watch him, even if he’s drifting on the side, you need to keep an eye on him’, before you know, he’s behind you, he gets the ball and he turns and you’re in trouble’, Rooney was the guy.”

Speaking on Manchester United’s underrated South Korean fan favourite, he recalls: “There’s a guy, Ji-Sung Park, he never gets tired, we always had to watch out for him, he makes runs with and without the ball.”

Mikel’s comments underline what a nightmare Park was for opponents to play against, with his unbelievable work rate causing problems for teams, and he is exactly the type of player current manager Erik ten Hag needs in his first team squad right now.