United May Have To Refund £12m John Obi Mikel Fee

[the wes 7,212]

Chelsea could be refunded the £16 million transfer fee paid to Manchester United and Lyn Oslo for John Obi Mikel if Morgan Andersen, a former Lyn director, is convicted of forging the Nigeria midfield player's first professional contract.

It is understood that Svein Holden, a Norwegian public prosecutor bringing the case against Andersen in a fraud trial in Oslo this week, will argue for the settlement to be cancelled on the grounds that Mikel's contract with Lyn was invalid, making him available as a free agent. Whether the money would have to be repaid by the clubs or Andersen in the event of a guilty verdict is unclear.

Chelsea are monitoring the trial, but cannot comment publicly because they signed a confidentially agreement with Mikel, United and Lyn when the compensation package was agreed in June 2006, with the two clubs receiving £12 million and £4 million respectively to facilitate Mikel's move to Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea are wary of reopening the wounds of a bitter transfer dispute that plunged almost farcical depths three years ago when Mikel disappeared amid allegations of kidnapping, intimidation and fraud. It is now clear that much of the uncertainty sprang from confusion over who owned Mikel, with Chelsea claiming that they had reached an agreement privately to sign a teenager who was playing as an amateur and United announcing his signature days after his 18th birthday in April 2005.

Andersen stands accused of forging the original contract Mikel is supposed to have signed with Lyn when he turned 18, which if proved would invalidate his transfer to United and their subsequent compensation agreement with Chelsea. Fifa was reluctant to rule on the validity of that contract during the original dispute, but may become involved again if Chelsea ask for a revised settlement.

Andersen's trial is expected to last two weeks and Mikel and his agent, John Shittu, could be called to testify via videophone. Andersen, who denies all the charges, has left Lyn and is on leave from his position at Fredrikstad.

[warnie_666 1,081]

As far as I know, it was Chelsea who sponsored his work visa to play football in Europe with the intention of hiring his services in few years. It was Chelsea who got him to Lyn with the intentions of snapping him in couple of years, it was during this time that Manchester united struck a deal with Mikel's agent and bought him for some 5 million pounds. Fucking Retards....We bring the Player, we do the hard work and the Scums of OT buy him for 5 million. What further pissed me was that we inretu nhad to pay the Scums 12 million. WTF!!!

[EskWeston 696]

It always looked like we could get the money back. For whatever reason we was completely f**ked over by Lyn.

The bottom line though is that every effort we made was completely worth it because we have one classy player.

[Fulham Broadway 16,391]

It always looked like we could get the money back. For whatever reason we was completely f**ked over by Lyn.

The bottom line though is that every effort we made was completely worth it because we have one classy player.

Do you remember when we had this thread on the other forum ? One of the longestthreads ever .

It was clear that ManUtd hadn't earned the right for that cash.

[EskWeston 696]

Do you remember when we had this thread on the other forum ? One of the longestthreads ever .

It was clear that ManUtd hadn't earned the right for that cash.

Yup, was a monster thread. The case dragged on forever though.

Man you collaborated with Lyn to f**k us over. But someone at our club didn't do their job right and get some sort of agreement tied down, if i remember rightly that person got the boot! Luckily for us, Lyn were so f**king dodgy that they forged Mikel's contract and we had a opening again....

[Fulham Broadway 16,391]

Thats right, and it didn't help with Mikel being ambiguous about where he wanted to end up. He finally chose the right team though.

[EskWeston 696]

Thats right, and it didn't help with Mikel being ambiguous about where he wanted to end up. He finally chose the right team though.

I think the only time he talked about wanting to go to Man you was when he was paraded infront of the cameras with a Man you shirt! He could exactly turn round and say then that it was wrong ect...