. The phone call that shattered him before Nigeria/Argentina W/Cup match

. Reveals the intrigues, undercurrents in his transfer saga

. What he finds lacking in current Chelsea squad

John Obi Mikel has admited signing a pre-contract with Manchester United before Chelsea move

The former Blues midfielder witnessed Sir Alex Ferguson’s fury when he admitted he didn’t mean to sign for United and wanted to play for Chelsea instead back in 2006.

He also spoke on on working under Roman Abramovich, and the ‘power’ senior Chelsea players had

Mikel spoke with talkSPORT

Here’s a breakdown on some of those things he talked about:

Manchester United transfer saga

Mikel was at the centre of a bizarre saga in 2005 when he had just turned 18 where both Manchester United and Chelsea claimed to have signed him.

He was at Norwegian side Lyn at the time and United had announced they had struck a £4million deal and that he had signed a contract.

Mikel even had a press conference in a Man United shirt, but then Chelsea said they already had an agreement in place.

“Sir Alex Ferguson thought he got me, yeah,” he told talkSPORT.

“I did the press conference and it was everywhere. Then obviously Roman Abramovich, everybody at Chelsea saw it and they were like, ‘What’s going on here? We’ve been looking at this player for two or three years now, what’s happening here?’

“Obviously they sent my agent down to Lyn and then he came down to Norway, and then for a couple of hours I went missing. He took me out from my apartment where I used to live with a couple of my friends.

“He was like, ‘We need to go back to London, I need to get you out of Norway right now because what you’ve done right now, it’s so much of a problem with Chelsea and Roman is not happy.’ So my agent took me to a hotel and then the next morning we flew down to London, and the rest was history.

“Then it took me about a year, I couldn’t play for either United or Chelsea because FIFA was like, ‘OK we need to resolve this.’ So I went to FIFA and I was like, ‘I didn’t mean to sign for United.'”

Jim White then joked that the pen had slipped in his hand, with Mikel then recalling a meeting he had with Sir Alex: “Yeah haha [the pen slipped].

“I did have a meeting with Fergie at the FA office in London because the FA also wanted to get involved and was like, ‘We need to get this player playing, he’s a young player, he needs to play football.’

“It was just me and him in a room, yeah that was feisty that. I had my agent sitting outside and he was like, ‘When you go into this meeting, because he’s going to try to brainwash, everything he says, just make sure you say no.’

“So I went into that office, into that meeting, so everything he was saying I was like, ‘Ah, I’m sorry boss, I can’t play for United, it was a mistake, I didn’t mean to sign.’ It was a long table, he was sitting right over there and I was sitting at the edge of the table.

“He was sitting at the other edge, I could see him go red, he was like, ‘Are you sure you don’t want to play for United, the biggest club in the world?’ He’s like, ‘What is it you want, do you want more money? What is it you want, I’ll give it to you.’

“I was like, ‘Sorry boss, I can’t play for United, I want to go to Chelsea.’ So we had about 20 or 30 minutes in the room and he walked off and then that was it.

“He walked away, and then the next couple of weeks he was like, ‘OK, well I’m not going to let him go for free,’ so Chelsea paid £14million to United and £4m to Lyn.”

Such a move to Chelsea proved hugely beneficial for Mikel as he won two Premier League titles, the Champions League and four FA Cups.

He made 372 appearances for the Blues across all competitions, and revealed why he chose to join them over United.

“I wanted to go somewhere where I could help create history, if I went to United, I wouldn’t have been part of the team that’s won the Champions League first in London, we were the first team to win it in London.

“For me, it was about creating my own history because I know obviously United were the biggest club. It was really how I felt, I looked at both clubs and, you know, United had won so much.

“So, I needed to go somewhere where I could create history with the players. Back then as well they had the likes of Michael Essien, Didier Drogba, African players going to Chelsea.

“For me, I looked at that and was like, ‘OK, where am I going to feel more comfortable and where am I going to create my own history?'”

Roman Abramovich’s reign

Mikel played a starring role in one of the most successful periods of the club’s history.

In his 11 years at Stamford Bridge he won two Premier League titles, the Champions League, a Europa League, four FA Cups and two League Cups.

The Nigeria icon saw first hand the ruthlessness that owner Abramovich showed when it came to managers.

He said: “Amazing owner and football man as well. A lot of people thought he was going to be this owner who just threw money at the club and wasn’t involved in the day-to-day activities.

He wasn’t at the club every day, but boy, he knew what was going on every day.

Every game he was always coming into the dressing room. Whether we win or lose he was always there.

He would just say ‘sorry I know you guys did your best, but next time we have to win’.

“He always wanted to win games. For him, it was about winning games.

“The only thing with him is that when you saw the helicopters flying around the training ground, you know that the manager is going to be sacked.”

Rafa Benitez departure

It was not only Abramovich who was ruthless towards managers, but it was the players too.

The big names at Chelsea at the time famously ran the show – if you didn’t get on with the players then you’d be out the door.

One such instance was when Benitez left the club, with John Terry leading the decision.

Mikel said: “I think there was something about Rafa and the fans that the fans didn’t take to him. Same as the players, we didn’t accept him as one of us.”

Terry had been dropped from the team and that led to the Chelsea legend forcing Benitez’s exit.

He added: “JT got together by himself and decided yeah, your time is gone!”

Dad’s kidnapping

One of the more troubling episodes of his life that Mikel talked about was the time his father was kidnapped in 2018.

It was the second time his father was held captive, this time happening just hours before he played in the World Cup against Argentina.

He said: “Two hours before the game I got a phone call from my brother saying that my dad has been kidnapped for the second time in Nigeria.

“That was absolutely shocking. The first time was shocking, but the second time was even more shocking because I was about to go into one of the biggest games of my life.

“Just knowing that my dad has been kidnapped again was absolutely heartbreaking.

“I couldn’t leave the room. I couldn’t tell anybody. I was alone in the room for about 30 minutes, thinking what am I going to do? Shall I tell the manager? Shall I tell my teammates? Or should I make an announcement?

“But we’re about to go into the biggest game of our lives. We’re about to play against Lionel Messi and Argentina.

“So I thought about it. I was like, okay, you know what? I’m going to keep quiet. I called my mum and my brothers, everybody was crying on the phone.

“They were saying no you shouldn’t go out and play because you’re not going to be able to perform well.

“I took time on my own and I decided that I’m going to go out there and perform. I’m going to go out there and play.

“So I didn’t tell anybody. I went on the pitch and I played. Sadly, we didn’t win the game and then after that I told everybody.

“In the dressing room the manager and some of the players were almost in tears. They were saying you should have told us and you shouldn’t have played.”

Chelsea verdict

The Blues are going through a tough time at the moment under new owner Todd Boehly.

Despite more than £1billion spent in the transfer market, results are not being reflected on the pitch.

Mikel wants to see more leadership on the pitch.

He said: “I know Reece James is a captain and he’s a fantastic player, but when I watch him on the pitch he’s not vocal.

“I remember when John Terry used to come up to a player and grab you by the neck and be like ‘wake the F up, we’re about to lose a game here’.

“I don’t see that here. Nobody even talks to each other. Nobody corrects, nobody screams at each other. How are you going to win games?”