Re: John Obi Mikel... I see your point about being old enough, but ask yourself in all honesty if you really believe an 18-year-old Nigerian kid who had only been out of the country for less than 2 years would really know enough to sign away his professional rights to a Norwegian club without a family member or agent there to look after his best interests. Also I doubt he signed a multi-million pound contract. He signed a pro contract with Lyn which porbably doesn't net him more than a couple of thousand a week. Then Lyn flogged him to you within a week (you can't reasonably think there wasn't some pre-negotiating involved) for a £4 mil return on £0 investment (his schooling/boarding at Lyn wasn't even paid for by the club!). What Lyn did was the epitomy of greed, pure and simple.
Re: John Obi Mikel... Are you serious.....Just because he's Nigerian doesn't mean he's an idiot......Of course he knew what he was doing .......... He saw the money took it then freaked when he heard he could get more elsewhere........He is an Adult and should act like it..
Re: John Obi Mikel... The multi-million pound contract I was referring to was the one with us, not with Lyn. I'm not sure exactly what wages were agreed upon, but suffice it to say it was probably pretty good. Mikel wasn't some old antique that Lyn came upon and sold to us. He was their property and if he was wanted by a club like United for the kind of money we offered, why wouldn't they have sold?
Re: John Obi Mikel... I can see its pointless arguing with you lot, but I'll state it one more time. I don't have a problem with the deal you did with Lyn. Seems pretty straight forward. And I also agree that by the letter of the law he was Lyn's player to sell - he did sign a contract. Unfortunately he may have been coerced into signing that contract and that is what is being disputed by JOM and his agent and his family. FIFA needs to take a stance on the way Lyn got the kid to ditch his longtime agent and sign for them, especially since there was no real reason for him to do so at the time. But I guess as shown in the posts above, all of you were experts on employment contract law at age 18 after spending your formulative years playing football. And doing so in a country far from your own without friends, family, or legal representation wouldn't have been an issue in the slightest. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. (btw, that's not a dig at you achtung even though I quoted you)
Re: John Obi Mikel... Seriously, what the hell are you on about? 18yr olds all over the world sign contracts and legal documents for various things. The difference here is just that the contract involves more money (which really shouldn't be a problem should it?). It is perfectly legal, even if the contract is signed without the presence of an agent. And it's not like we made him sign a document which would makes us our slave forever and ever.
Re: John Obi Mikel... Oh, good, so you know the law in this case. If you could kindly point me to it, I'd greatly appreciate it. Since you know its "perfectly legal", right?
Re: John Obi Mikel... FFS - how old are you? When you were 18 would you have signed a contract without asking the advice of your family or more importantly your agent/career advisor that had been looking out for you since you were 16? I know what I was like at 18, I drank a lot, watched a lot of TV, pretended to study, and chased girls 24/7. I wouldn't have had the first clue about signing an employment contract and more importantly wouldn't do so in Norway in the presence of 5 guys reeking of herring without first talking it over with my parents, guardians, or friends. Rant over, enjoy your day.
Re: John Obi Mikel... Oh ********...I should've known the word "legal" was a cue for nicephoras to step in. Seriously though, a lot of documents don't need the presence of an agent, but merely a witness. United's lawyer was present when the contract with Manchester United was signed.
Re: John Obi Mikel... Shittu claims that Obi wasn't allowed by Morgan Andersen to talk to his parents, but I wouldn't take his word for it. And don't assume that just because you wouldn't have been in a position to sign an employment contract when you were 18 that others are incapable of doing so.
Re: John Obi Mikel... I had actually avoided getting into these Obi Mikel threads as long as possible simply because there really isn't enough information to allow a reasonable debate. We don't know who was present at each contract signing, we don't know if coercive methods were used, we don't know who is scraping something for themselves off the top of the deal, we don't know when Chelsea and/or United got into contact with Mikel. It's all just speculation at this point, and there won't be much else to say until the actual ruling comes out.
Re: John Obi Mikel... Oh, well at least there was someone looking out for Mikel. If it's any consolation to you guys, he'll never fulfill his potential in London. He'll just be sitting on the bench with all the other players that ay have been great.
Re: John Obi Mikel... My point is that it was still legal. As far as looking out for the boy goes, who's to tell whether Shitbag Shittu is really looking out for Obi's interests or for his own?
Re: John Obi Mikel... Gosh, what a shock - someone with no knowledge of the law decides to label things "perfectly legal" without understanding the nature of the legal issue, and then gets upset when asked for specifics on the............law. The point here is that a contract signed under duress is not a valid contract. If there is no valid contract, all moneys paid would be rescinded. Now, whether or not this was, in fact, duress, I don't know. Nor does anyone here. (Although the death threats comments are amusing.) Mikel is 18 years old. He's living in a foreign country, he's never negotiated anything without a contract. If you think that person can't be taken advantage of, you're ********ing insane. Furthermore, does it not seem just the slightest bit odd that Mikel suddenly signed a contract as soon as he turned 18 by someone who told him he didn't need his agent anymore? That'd ring alarm bells for me.
Re: John Obi Mikel... Really? Do you know anything about European transfer law? I have to admit, I know almost nothing in that regard, but I am familiar with the general legal principles. You aren't since you seem to think that the issue here hinges on the lack of an agent's presence. That's not the point. Because, he's the boy's agent. That's what their job is. The job of the ManUtd representative is to look out for the best interests of ManUtd. You're making the argument that "no, we didn't let the defendent speak to his lawyer. But hey - the prosecutor was in the room, so its all perfectly legal."
Re: John Obi Mikel... Yes he could be taken advantage of but he must be the biggest moron on earth to let them do that...... He's 18 the fact he's in a foreign country is irrelevent to me.... Someone who knows they have this large a future should be smart enough to knlow what he's signing....If he is that dumb that he just signed because he was told to he doesn't deserve to walk the earth let alone play a professional sport...... Obi needs to take some responsibility for his actions as an adult is all I'm saying.....
Re: John Obi Mikel... Its funny how nicephoras is here, but isnt in the other thread to back up his bogus claims about MAdrid in the 50s and 60's. Anyway, i dont have a link but It was said that Lyn signed the player illegally, so he couldnt sign for us legally.
Re: John Obi Mikel... We already know what Chelsea has told him to say, nicephoras. But thanks anyways.
Re: John Obi Mikel... That's the legal issue, not what the facts are. Apparently apart from suffering, hatred also leads to illiteracy.
Re: John Obi Mikel... Oh grow up! He's 18 years old, people are pushing papers in front of him to sign, his agent's nowhere around, and given that he's a football player there's a good likelihood he's not the sharpest tool in the shed to begin with. I mean, its a good thing in your mind someone who's too dumb to know what to do should never play professional football again. I'm glad no one at ManUtd would be so stupid as to forget to take a drug test. I mean, that's just moronic.