John Michael Nchekwube Obinna (born 22 April 1987), known as John Obi Mikel, John Mikel Obi or Mikel John Obi, is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for English club Chelsea and the Nigeria national team. Club career Mikel was born in Jos, Nigeria as John Michael Nchekwube Obinna, the son of Michael Obi, who runs an inter-state
transport company in Jos, the capital of Plateau State.[5] As his father was a member of the Igbo ethnic group,[6] "Nchekwube" means "hope" and "Obi"
is a nickname for the Igbo name "Obinna" (meaning "Father´s heart". [7] Mikel started his official football career
at the age of 12 when picked as a
talented footballer from over 3000
young talents to play in Pepsi Football Academy. A team which at that particular time was well known for
going around Nigeria to search for the
best there is from all the upcoming
future stars, young talents to later
move on to rather more professional
football. Already then Obi stood out to all the scouts. He got picked

That's ma guy! ......Op, edit the Title. There is a typo. Thanks.

to play in
a top-flight team Plateau United also known for making stars from players
like Celestine Babayaro, Victor Obinna, Chris Obodo and many more which moved on to playing in European
teams and representing their country
later on in their careers. Later known as
John Obi Mikel he was gaining
headlines for his country at the FIFA Under-17 World Championships held in Finland. Subsequently he went on trial to South Africa club Ajax Cape Town, before joining Lyn in Norway.[8] During preparations for the 2003 FIFA
Under-17 World Championships, the
Nigerian Football Association
mistakenly submitted "Michael" as
"Mikel" for the tournament in Finland.
He decided to keep the new name, saying that it had a special ring to it.
On 31 July 2006, he stated that he
prefers to be called Mikel John Obi
instead of John Obi Mikel, as he had most commonly been called.[9] In the summer of 2005, Mikel played
for Nigeria at the FIFA World Youth
Championships held in the
Netherlands.

He had an excellent
tournament until Nigeria reached the
final, where they lost 2–1 to Argentina. Obi won the Silver Ball after being
voted the tournament's second best
player. Controversial transfer to
England On 29 April 2005, a few days after
Mikel turned 18, Premier League club Manchester United announced that it had struck a deal with the Norwegian club Lyn Oslo to sign the player.[10] United's website also claimed that they
had done a deal directly with the
teenager and that he had signed a
contract to join them. Mikel's agents
were bypassed as the club persuaded
the youngster to sign a four-year contract without representation. Lyn
Oslo allegedly sent a fax to his agents
abroad, claiming their services were no
longer required by Mikel. Reports said
the deal was initially worth £4 million, [11] and would see the player arrive at Old Trafford in January 2006.

Manchester United's rival Premier League club, Chelsea, later issued a counter-claim suggesting that they already had an agreement with Mikel and his agents, but Lyn Oslo denied this claim. However, subsequent reports indicated that Chelsea claimed to have been involved in arranging the player's original move to Europe with a view to signing him at a later date. Further substance was added to this claim after it was revealed that the player had impressed Chelsea manager José Mourinho while training with the club's first-team squad during the summer of 2004.

Mikel expressed his delight at joining
United in a hastily arranged press
conference, where he was pictured
holding up a Manchester United shirt, which bore the squad number 21.[12] Following his signing of the contract to
join Manchester United, there were
claims from Norway that he had
received a number of threatening
phone calls from unknown sources.
Mikel was assigned a security guard and moved to a safe hotel. However,
on 11 May 2005, the midfielder went
missing during a Norwegian Cup game against Klemetsrud; he had not been
selected for the match but had been
watching from the stands. Whilst the
player was believed to have left with
one of his agents, John Shittu, who
had by now flown in to meet Mikel, his disappearance sparked massive media
coverage in Norway and also provoked
a police enquiry after the Lyn Oslo
director Morgan Andersen made claims in the Norwegian media that Mikel had
been 'kidnapped'.

These claims were later repeated by Manchester United's
assistant manager Carlos Queiroz, who accused Chelsea of being involved in the alleged 'kidnapping'.[13] It subsequently emerged that Mikel
had travelled to London with his agent
John Shittu, who was working for Jerome Anderson's SEM group.[14] Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson considered travelling to Oslo to visit Mikel, but decided against this
after Mikel was reported to have left the country.[15] Staying in a London hotel, and some nine days after
disappearing, Mikel stated on Sky Sports News that he had been pressured into signing the contract
with United without his agent present,
claims furiously rebuffed by both Manchester United and Lyn Oslo.[16] Mikel told the British media that
Chelsea were the club he genuinely
wanted to sign for. In response to
these events, United made an official
complaint to FIFA about the behaviour
of both Chelsea and the player's agents, John Shittu and Rune Hauge,

already infamous for his role in the George Graham bungs scandal.[17] FIFA dismissed these claims in August
2005 stating there was insufficient
evidence to bring a case against
Chelsea. Following the tournament, Mikel failed
to return to Lyn Oslo, and the club
lodged a complaint with FIFA. On 12
August 2005, FIFA ruled that Mikel
should return to Lyn Oslo to see out his
contract with the Norwegian club, whilst they would decide at a later date
whether the contract he signed with
United should be upheld or cancelled. [18][19] After a delay of over a month, Mikel complied with the FIFA decision
and returned to Lyn Oslo in early
September 2005 after a three-month
absence. Transfer resolved Rather than leaving FIFA to determine
the validity of the contract signed with
Manchester United, Chelsea
intervened by volunteering to settle the
transfer saga through negotiation with Lyn Oslo and Manchester United.[20]

On 2 June 2006, Chelsea, Manchester
United and Lyn Oslo reached a
settlement to resolve the future of the
player. Mikel's registration was to be
transferred from Lyn to Chelsea;
Manchester United agreed to terminate their option agreement with
Mikel. Under the terms of this
agreement Chelsea agreed to pay
Manchester United £12 million, half
paid upon the finalisation of the
contract and the other half in June 2007, and Lyn £4 million, half payable
immediately and half in June 2007. As
a result of this settlement, all claims in this matter were withdrawn.[21] On 19 July 2006, Chelsea were granted a
work permit for the midfielder after
they completed the £16 million signing in June 2006.[22] In the aftermath of the transfer,
Morgan Andersen, who had a previous
conviction for forging official documents,[23] was convicted of fraud and making false accusations and
given a one-year suspended jail
sentence by an Oslo court.

The court
also ordered him to pay 20,000 kroner (£1,944) in costs.[24] Chelsea made a High Court claim for £16m against FC
Lyn Oslo and Andersen following the
conviction, claiming that the previously
agreed settlement was not binding as
"the transfer was based on a
fraudulent misrepresentation, now proven by a court of law".[25] This claim was subsequently resolved out of court.[26] Chelsea 2006–07 season On 12 September 2006, Mikel made his
first start for Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League against Levski Sofia and took a powerful shot which the goalkeeper failed to save and Didier Drogba pounced on the rebound. Mikel received many positive
comments for his performance in the
match. However, since being sent off in
a match against Reading on 14 October 2006, Mikel was fined on three
separate occasions by Chelsea for
turning up late to training.

At the time, Chelsea manager José Mourinho was believed to have strong reservations about his lifestyle outside
of Stamford Bridge and the club were reportedly considering offloading the
player. Mikel was dropped for over a
month, during which his father Michael
voiced his concerns over his son's behaviour.[27] After improved punctuality and showings at training
sessions, Mikel earned a recall for
Chelsea's Champions League group
away game against Werder Bremen on 23 November 2006. Mikel scored his
first goal for Chelsea in their 6–1 FA Cup victory over Macclesfield Town on 6 January 2007. He also scored
against Nottingham Forest in the following round of the competition.
During Chelsea's triumph in the League Cup Final in 2007, Mikel was sent off in injury time (having come on as a
substitute) after clashing with Kolo Touré, the incident was followed by a huge fracas, in which Touré and Emmanuel Adebayor of Arsenal were sent off, Cesc Fàbregas and Frank Lampard were booked and José Mourinho

and Arsené Wenger were involved in a kerfuffle on the pitch. In subsequent games, Mourinho
deployed Mikel as a starter in a holding
role in key games where he impressed
greatly, notably in the Chelsea versus
Tottenham FA Cup sixth round replay,
the Champions League quarter-final games versus Valencia, the
Champions League semi-final games
versus Liverpool and also the victorious FA Cup Final against Manchester United. Mikel's height and great
strength, allied to good ball control and
an unusually wide range of passing,
allows him not only to disrupt opposing
attacks, but also to spread the play
effectively. Mikel supplanted the French midfielder Claude Makélélé in the lineup following his departure to Paris Saint-Germain.[28] 2007–08 season Mikel was sent-off for the third time in
his career in September 2007, when
Mike Dean dismissed him for a tackle
on Manchester United defender Patrice Evra. Chelsea appealed against the red card but the three-match
suspension was upheld.

He was also sent off in the semi-final
of the League Cup against Everton, for a challenge on Phil Neville. Despite this, he came back strongly to round off
what has been a good first two
seasons for him at Chelsea.

The summer of 2008 saw veteran
midfielder Claude Makélélé transferred to French club PSG, leaving the defensive midfield position vacant.
Throughout the 2008/09 season, Mikel
saw a great deal of playing time due to
an injury to Michael Essien. During this period of increased action, Mikel
performed admirably in the role. His
ever-improving game was praised by
Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, and his importance to the team was
underlined when he provided the free
kick that Salomon Kalou scored to equalise against Manchester United. He played so well in the 2008–09
season that he was nominated for the
club player and young player of the
season. On 24 January 2009, Mikel
was charged with drunk driving, just hours before an FA Cup game against Ipswich Town[29] – Mikel was not due to play in the game as he was serving a
suspension. Although he had all that
trouble on 22 July, Mikel signed a new five-year contract with Chelsea.

On 13 February 2010, Mikel provided a
long ball for Didier Drogba to latch onto and fire past goalkeeper David Marshall as Chelsea beat Cardiff City 4–1 in the FA Cup Round of 16.[31] Mikel provided another assist for a
Drogba goal in a 5–0 win over FA Cup
finalists and relegated side Portsmouth on 24 March, as Chelsea cut United's
lead at the top of the table to one point.[32] Mikel played the full ninety minutes in Chelsea's 7–1 smashing of Aston Villa three days later as Chelsea kept pace in the title race with Manchester United.[33] In their next Premier League game against United,
Mikel played excellent as a marshall in
midfield as Chelsea climbed above
United in the table with a 2–1 win at Old Trafford, thanks to goals from Joe Cole and Drogba.[34] Under new manager Carlo Ancelotti, Mikel continued to perform with
efficiency in his defensive midfield role
as he notched up 32 appearances for
the Blues and in May 2010 received Premier League[35] and FA Cup

[36] winner's medals as part of Chelsea's
first ever league-cup double winning team.[37] 2010–11 season Mikel and Chelsea started the new Premier League campaign where they left of the 2009–10 season, playing
strong defense and adding deadly
finishing. Mikel played the full 90 and
helped keep three clean-sheets in the
first three games as Chelsea eased past West Brom 6–0 on 14 August,[38] crushed Wigan Athletic 6–0 at the DW Stadium seven days later[39] and edged past Stoke 2–0 on 28 August.[40] Mikel was the preferred option in
defensive midfield as teammate Michael Essien spent most of the season on the sideline with knee injuries.[41] The injury to the versatile Essien forced the club to play new
signing Ramires more often in the second half of the season. Mikel
featured in 28 Premier League
campaigns for Chelsea as the London
side finished in second place, nine
points behind champions Manchester United.[42] Following the disappointment of not winning a title,

Italian manager Carlo Ancelotti was sacked by the club.[43][44] 2011–12 season Before the start of their league
campaign, Mikel's father was abducted
in his native Nigeria on 10 August;
despite this, Mikel started in the club's
opening fixture against Stoke City at the Britannia.[45] Mikel came close to claiming his first Premier League goal for Chelsea in an inspired game as the
sides played out a 0–0 draw in new
coach Andre Villas-Boas's first game in charge.[46] Due to Michael Essien's long term knee injury, Mikel found more playing time,
but around Christmas time he lost his
place to Chelsea's new signing Oriol Romeu.[47] Following a run of disappointing fixtures including a
catastrophic 3–1 loss to Napoli in the Champions League Round of 16 first leg[48] and a 1–0 defeat to West Brom, [49] Villas-Boas was sacked by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.[50] In both of these matches Mikel was an unused substitute for The Blues.

[51] Following the appointment of former Chelsea
midfielder Roberto di Matteo, Mikel appeared in 16 of the club's last 20
games and started in 14 of them, and
began to play some of his best football for the club.[52] Mikel played the full 90 minutes in
Chelsea's 2–1 victory over Liverpool in the FA Cup final on 5 May 2012, picking up a yellow card in the 36th minute.[47] The Premier League campaign saw Mikel appear in 22
league fixtures, starting 15 of them, as
well as playing in eight fixtures leading
up to the team's appearance in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich.[51] In the final in Munich on 19 May, Mikel
played the full 120 minutes as the sides played out a 1–1 draw.[53] Chelsea played a tough defensive
battle and Mikel was hailed by Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp as playing an excellent game putting in "a performance that I didn't think he
had in him; he was putting out fires
everywhere," as Chelsea claimed a 4– 3 victory in the penalty shootout.

Following his performance Mikel told
reporters that it was "best night of our lives."[54] Mikel's strong performances in the final stages of the
season and his impressive display in
Munich helped Chelsea secure Champions League football next season despite finishing in sixth place,
knocking London rivals Tottenham Hotspur into the Europa League.[55] 2012–13 season Mikel started all of Chelsea's first five games of the new Premier League season, and also played in the Community Shield against Manchester City[56] and Super Cup against Atlético Madrid. In November, Mikel was named on the shortlist for the African Footballer of the Year along with former Chelsea teammate Didier Drogba.

Mikel was charged with misconduct by
the Football Association on 22 November 2012.[58] Mikel was given a three-match ban and fined £60,000 by
the Football Association for
threatening referee Mark Clattenburg during a 3–2 defeat to Manchester United.[59][60] On 5 December 2012, Mikel signed a
contract extension with Chelsea, keeping him at the club until 2017.

On 21 September 2013, Mikel scored
his first Premier League goal in a 2–0 win against Fulham.[62] He scored his second goal of the season in Chelse'a
third round tie with Derby on 5 January 2014, heading in the opening goal in an eventual 2-0 victory.[63] Mikel made his 200th Premier League appearance
for Chelsea on 3 February, coming on
as a late substitute in a 1-0 away
victory at Manchester City. 2014–15 season On 30 August 2014, Mikel, who
substituted Willian on the 75 minute mark, set up Costa's second goal after picking up Bešić's backheel pass. Chelsea went on to win 6-3 against Everton at Goodison Park.[64] Mikel scored a rare goal against Sporting Lisbon on 10 December 2014 in a 3-1 victory at Stamford Bridge in the UEFA Champions League. International career Mikel represented the Nigeria under-20 team at the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship and won the Silver Ball for the second-best player at the
tournament (behind Lionel Messi) as the Africans finished runner-up to Argentina.[65]

He made his debut for the Nigeria senior team on 17 August 2005, when he came on as a second-half substitute
in a 1–0 friendly win over Libya. He did not play for the national team again
prior to being named in the squad for
the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations. In Nigeria's first group game, which was
against Ghana, Mikel was an unused substitute. However, he was
introduced into the second game,
against Zimbabwe, early in the second half. Within ten minutes of coming on,
he had supplied both the corner that
resulted in Christian Obodo heading the game's opening goal, and scored
Nigeria's second goal. He made his
first international start in Nigeria's final
group game, a 2–1 victory over Senegal.[66] In 2007, Mikel was suspended from all
Nigerian national teams after manager Berti Vogts dropped Mikel from the team's squad for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Niger, for failing to attend their previous match against Uganda.[67]

Mikel cited an injury, but because he did not attend
an independent check by Nigerian
officials, he was dropped. This, and his
refusal to play for the Nigerian under-23 side resulted in his suspension by the Nigerian Football Association. After apologising, he was called up to the national squad for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana. [68] At the tournament, he scored one goal and registered one assist in a
match against Benin, to help Nigeria qualify for the quarter-finals against
hosts Ghana, where they lost 2–1 to their West African rivals.[69] Mikel had been called up for the
Under-23 side in preparation of the
team's last Olympic qualifier on 26 March 2008, needing a win to qualify. [70] His failure to show up for any of the qualifiers again setting off some
controversy with the U-23 team coach Samson Siasia, who dropped him from the Olympic squad amidst significant
furor from the media. On 5 June 2010, Mikel was ruled out of
the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa due to injury.

He had been struggling to recover from a knee
problem after undergoing surgery in
May, though there were also reports
that an ankle injury was to blame for Mikel's withdrawal.[71] At the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, Mikel was a key player for Nigeria as
they went on to win their fifth
continental title. He was named by CAF in the team of the tournament alongside teammates Vincent Enyeama, Efe Ambrose, Victor Moses and Emmanuel Emenike.[72] Mikel made his FIFA World Cup debut during the 2014 tournament in Brazil, earning a man of the match award in
the Super Eagles' opening game against Iran[73] and helping the team to reach the knockout stage for the first time since 1998.