John Obi Mikel: Joined Chelsea instead of Manchester United (2006)
The transfer of Mikel was a monumental disaster for Manchester United in 2005. At the time, the Nigerian midfielder was at Norwegian club Lyn when the Red Devils approached them and struck a deal to sign Mikel.
Mikel had even appeared in a United press conference, complete with a red United kit as a £4m fee was agreed. However, the club had bypassed his agents in doing so.
Chelsea then made the claim that they had struck a deal with Mikel’s agents. Mikel had even ‘disappeared’ for a while when he wasn’t available for selection with the club even suggesting that he had been kidnapped – which even led to police involvement. But it turned out that he had actually flown to London and he wanted to sign for Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea, stating that he had been forced to sign with United.
The dispute had to be resolved by FIFA and a year later as Chelsea paid £16m (£12m to United to terminate their option on him) to sign the midfielder who went on to win a number of trophies at Stamford Bridge een though he was never considered a major star.
