Categories: Sports

Mikel Obi: I Pretended To Be Kidnapped Before Making Chelsea Move

Mikel Obi reveals that he wasn’t kidnapped in 2005 despite the reports in the media suggesting so
He disclosed that he deliberately went into hiding to avoid public eyes

Former super eagles captain, Mikel Obi has finally debunked the rumours that he was kidnapped before his move to Chelsea in 2006.

You will recall that in the wake of Mikel Obi’s career, a major controversy between Manchester United and Chelsea rocked the footballing work.

The 34-year-old was billed to join Manchester United from his Norwegian club, Lyn Oslo after an impressive performance at the 2005 FIFA World Youth championship.

However, he went missing during that period that Lyn Oslo had to declare him kidnapped which gained media traction in Norway.

It was later discovered that Mikel was trying to avoid the move to Manchester United and made his way for Chelsea football club which led Manchester United to file a complaint at FIFA.

Mikel Obi

In an interview with The Athletic, Mikel disclosed that he was not really kidnapped but had to go into hiding so as to avoid the public eyes.

“Yes, there was talk of that.

“Look, I wasn’t really kidnapped. I was just staying away from the public eye, away from the press, making sure no one knew where I was.

“But there was a public announcement in Norway that, if anyone saw me, they should report it to the police, so we had to go and hide. Obviously, United were trying to get hold of me. So was Lyn. There were some tough times. It was like a movie.”, Mikel disclosed.

David Titiloye