Player Missing!

[Shum]

Ferguson abandons emergency dash

Sir Alex Ferguson has decided not to fly to Norway to talk with John Mikel Obi, after the midfielder's club Lyn Oslo admitted he had gone missing.

Manchester United thought they had snatched the 18-year-old Nigerian from Chelsea's grasp when they announced his signing almost a fortnight ago.

But Lyn Oslo information director Joachim Andersen told BBC Sport: "We do not know where John is.

"We have people looking for him to establish where he is."

Andersen added: "I don't know exactly who he is with but we suspect he is with agent John Shittu, who is the last person he was seen with."

The club's chief executive Morgan Andersen told Sky Sports' website: "He has been taken away by agents who told us they were working for Chelsea, but Chelsea have not confirmed this.

"We have always got on well with Chelsea. They made us an offer for John, but it was way off the mark and they only wanted to use middle men all the time.

"John wasn't happy with all the agents becoming involved and so we managed to cancel all the arrangements before he signed for Manchester United."

But United chief executive David Gill insisted that United have a binding agreement with Lyn Oslo.

He told MUTV: "We did a deal with the club, quite properly, following the rules.

"We also did a deal with John Obi. He has turned 18 and turned professional but in order to play in the Premier League, he needs a work permit.

"That is the process we have gone through. We have the rights to the player.

"But he cannot go underground for ever. He was last seen making his way to London, which we find extremely surprising."

Obi has now apparently said he wants to join Chelsea in preference to United.

The midfielder was last seen leaving a Lyn Oslo cup match on Wednesday and failed to turn up for training on Thursday.

The Norwegian league season runs from April to October and the midfielder had made an impressive start to the campaign.

"John played in all our pre-season matches and started the campaign brilliantly," added Joachim Andersen.

"He has been one of our best players both on and off the pitch. We are a surprised about the chain of events happening now."

And Andersen said the story was the biggest news item in Norway at the moment.

"There is virtually nothing about anything else in the Norwegian press," he revealed.

"It is on the front of every paper, there are extra editions, it is mayhem over here."

Source

[bluefox]

Lee Morris has been missing all season

[Guest]

And Canero, do you think there's a desert island somewhere filled with missing footballers?

[EmLeee]

urm yeh it's a possibility ...

[davieG]

And Canero, do you think there's a desert island somewhere filled with missing footballers?

107921[/snapback]

Raw Dykes Triangle

[Chimp]

I've ben following this story quite closely and there's been some weird things said by Lyn (the club selling the player). There's have been claims of death threats made to the player and the Lyn director stating "I don't dare go to London. Right now, it is dangerous to be there" in the latest news story on Sky Sports.

It's all very fishy...

[Steven]

CHELSEA FACE FIFA PROBE OVER MIKEL

Under-fire Chelsea are in the dock again after being reported to FIFA by Manchester United and Lyn Oslo over the John Obi Mikel transfer wrangle.

On the day the Premier League concluded their two-day hearing into Ashley Cole being 'tapping-up', Chelsea have been named along with agents John Shittu and Rune Hauge in a joint complaint to the game's governing body from United and their Norwegian counterparts.

Chelsea have repeatedly denied making any contact with either Mikel or Shittu but if FIFA decide to launch an official probe as United will demand, the London outfit, currently on tour in Korea, will be left facing yet more damaging questions about their conduct.

United and Oslo are demanding to know how a player who they claim was totally happy to agree a move to Old Trafford on April 29 ended up giving a tense TV interview less than a fortnight later claiming he had been bullied into the transfer and did not want to join the Red Devils at all.

It is a claim furiously denied by United chief executive David Gill and Oslo's sporting director Morgan Anderson, who have both signed the documents now headed for FIFA headquarters in Zurich.

Amid allegations of death threats and other intimidatory tactics, Mikel was whisked out of the Norwegian capital and into London last Thursday, the same day United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was due to fly out and meet him.

Shittu's involvement in the saga has already come under scrutiny, with the Nigerian Football Association, who approved his FIFA agent's licence, demanding a face-to-face meeting to discuss his conduct.

United and Oslo have already written individually to Chelsea and expressed their concerns, while Ferguson's assistant Carlos Queiroz declared last week it was his belief Mikel had effectively been 'kidnapped'.

"This thing is much larger than people think," Anderson told the Press Association this evening.

"John Obi Mikel received his work permit to play in Norway in September last year, he turned professional on April 22 and until April 29 when he signed for Manchester United, we had no problems and everything was quiet.

"We do not believe John left Norway of his free will. Legally, he is our player. He should be with us now and next year, he should be free to join Manchester United.

"As far as we are concerned, it is a very clear case. But it needs sorting out, which is why, together with Manchester United, we have asked FIFA to get involved."

What has also not being established so far is how Mikel, and three other promising young Nigerian players, ended up in Norway in the first place.

Anderson revealed that documentation was included within the submission to FIFA but refused to outline the precise details.