Former Super Eagles’ captain, Mikel John Obi has gone back in time to recall how ‘an administrative mistake’ gave him the name that became his official tag across the world, though he was known as John Michael Nchekwube Obinna at school, while growing up in Jos.
Sports247 reports that the now-39-year-old former defensive midfielder, who began his career as a playmaker in his early days at Plateau United of Jos, before joining Lyn of Norway at the age of 17, recalled that the errror occured in 2003.
He recalled that it was excatly on the eve of his participation with Nigeria’s cadet national team, Golden Eaglets, at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Finland, when the named engraved on his jersey turned out to be ‘Mikel’ instead of ‘Michael,’ and it was took late to make a correction.
That turned out to be ‘blessing in disguise’ for the then fast-rising dazzler, and he went on to shine during the comeptition in which a toss of coin sent Nigeria packing in the group stage, behind Costa Rica, so he decided to keep ‘Mikel’ as his name ever since.
“Two hours before I played for Nigeria at the Under-17 World Championship in Finland in 2003, our jerseys arrived. We had been waiting for our names to be printed on the back – when they came, we were all opening them up. I saw mine, and it had Mikel.
“I was like ‘What?! What’s this?’ It was supposed to be Michael, which was my name. They said it was a mistake. I asked if they could change it, but they said: ‘No, we don’t have time. We have a game to go and play – sorry, you’ll have to wear it.’
“So, I wore it and had a great tournament, so I thought, ‘OK, I’ll keep it!’ And that’s been my name ever since,” recounted Mikel, who also admitted he almost made a costly mistake in accepting to join Manchester United after reaching an initial agreement with Chelsea.
Sports247 recalls that The Red Devils were actually the first club in England to show interest in signing Mikel before the Cadet Mundial in Finland, but they committed a blunder by sending him back to Nigeria instead of retaining him in their academy or loan him to a smaller club.
That was what Chelsea did, as they loaned Mikel to Lyn Oslo of Norway – alongside Chinedu Obasi, Emmanuel Sarki and Ezekiel Bala – then called him back to Stamford Bridge when he turned 18, which caught the attention of United, who then tried unsuccessfully to scupper the deal.
Mikel later enjoyed a 14-year international career that ran from 2005 to 2019, during which he played 91 senior games for Nigeria and scored six goals, while attending five editions of the Africa Cup of Nations (one of which he won in 2013).
The former midfielder, who later played for Tianjin TEDA of China, Trabzonspor of Turkey, Middlesbrough and Stoke City as well as Kuwait SC, also featured at two FIFA World Cups and the 2016 Olympic Games, where he won bronze as captain of Nigeria’s under-23 squad.
