SAF:
If you sat that boy down, away from all the pressure and all the threats he is under, and asked him who he wanted to play for, the answer would be Manchester United. I hope to see him playing in a red jersey. We have the rights, there is no doubt about that."
The Observer:
Teenager John Obi Mikel still wants to snub Manchester United in favour of a move to Chelsea. Mikel's legal advisers are assessing the implications of a ruling by the Norwegian courts that any investigation into his contract with Lyn Oslo is a matter for the footballing authorities.
Only when that issue is resolved can Fifa launch any investigation into Mikel's failure to honour a separate contract with United, who believe they have a legally binding agreement for the 18-year-old Nigerian to move to Old Trafford.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson maintains that, freed from any outside pressures, Mikel would still prefer to link up with his side. However, shortly after Mikel had used a TV interview on Friday to call for the whole saga to be resolved, his legal team issued a statement clarifying his resolution to join Chelsea.
'Mikel wishes to reiterate that whatever Sir Alex Ferguson, for whom he has the utmost respect, may think, his wish is to play for Chelsea,' said the statement issued on behalf of Mikel by London-based solicitors Russells.
The boy himself:
"I just want people to realise I have a career to get on with."
The Sunday Times:
It took just seven minutes to see what all the fuss had been about. John Obi Mikel had been more a custody battle than a household name before crossing the touchline in Port Said, green No 8 on his back and eagerly watched by about 20,000 spectators. Suddenly he was no longer a prodigy but a performer.
Four minutes into his competitive international debut the midfielder created a goal; it took only three more minutes for Mikel to score. "I think you can see he’s worth all the talk," ventured Nigeria’s assistant coach, Daniel Amokachi.
The match, versus Zimbabwe, had been goalless when Mikel entered. His maiden flight as a Super Eagle turned it into 2-0. Four days later, Mikel would be asked to play in the starting line-up. He was decisive in supplying the pass for the equaliser on the way to a 2-1 win over Senegal and starred again in yesterday’s African Cup of Nations quarter-final victory over Tunisia.
What next? After the tournament, he’ll return to his professional limbo. Manchester United and Chelsea both say they have a stake in a footballer who turns 19 in April, and if, as seems likely, he ends up in London, it will be at considerable cost to the relationship between English football’s wealthiest clubs.
The Independent on Sunday:
Anybody who is puzzled as to why Chelsea and Manchester United have expended so much energy and bile in their tug of war over the 18-year-old son of a Nigerian civil servant had their answer within six minutes of his international debut.
When John Obi Mikel replaced Wilson Oruma after 54 minutes of Nigeria's Nations' Cup game against Zimbabwe 10 days ago, the score was 0-0 and the Super Eagles were becoming frustrated. By the time the clock reached the hour mark, they led 2-0, Mikel having set up the first and scored an exquisite second.
There are many teenagers who are blessed with extraordinary talent, but what was so striking was the feeling that he was meant to be on the international stage. Others might perhaps have played themselves slowly into the game, but Mikel immediately appointed himself as dead-ball specialist, and it was from his right-wing delivery that Christian Obodo headed the opener.
Three minutes later, gathering the ball on the left, he meand-ered infield, fooled defender and goalkeeper with a feint to shoot, and then calmly curved a 20-yard finish inside the right-hand upright. His subsequent celebration could hardly have been more nonchalant. There was further evidence of his class in yesterday's exciting quarter-final victory over Tunisia when he stroked in one of the shoot-out penalties.
"He is definitely worth all the talk around him," said Daniel Amokachi, the former Everton forward who is now Nigeria's assistant coach. "For a player of just 18, he is very confident and comfortable on the ball."
His agent, John Shittu, was still doing a fair amount of talking this week, flashing his gap-toothed grin around hotel lobbies in Port Said, making accusations of racism, corruption and forgery against officials of Manchester United and Lyn, the Norwegian club at which Mikel was parked to gain experience and from where United tried to sign him.
The exact truth of those allegations will take some determining, but what is not in dispute is Mikel's ability. "He might be even better than people are saying," said Jay-Jay Okocha. "His kind of player is very rare, a natural talent. He is maybe the best I have ever seen."
The Sunday Telegraph ask that United and Chelsea 'be sent to the tower':
In this world of probity and mutual trust, one can understand the fury of a club when even a smidgeon of dirt emerges from beneath a fingernail.
Thus Manchester United, having thought they had signed Nigerian John Obi Mikel, 18, were incandescent after learning that Chelsea wanted to steal him away from them. Shocking, claimed United. Ban Chelsea from all competitions! Send them to the Tower!
Quite right, too. Though, hold on a moment, if memory serves, there was a similar case to this back in the early Nineties, when another outstanding teenager named Matthew Wicks, son of former Chelsea defender Steve, agreed to join Arsenal, only to be poached by . . . er, Manchester United.
He rejoined Arsenal as a trainee in 1996 after United had been ordered to pay compensation. Since then, the rules regarding the signing of youngsters have been re-written, though the principle surely remains the same.