[Dirtycheat]

another twist in the tale:

United may have to repay £12m Obi Mikel fee

Originally Posted by Telegraph

Chelsea may be repaid the £16 million fee which they paid to sign John Obi Mikel from Manchester United and Lyn Oslo if Morgan Andersen, a one-time director of the Norwegian club, is found to have forged the player's first professional contract.

Norwegian public prosecutor Svein Holden, who is bringing the case against Andersen in a fraud trail in Oslo this week, is reported to be pushing for the settlement to be cancelled on the grounds that the midfield player's contract with Lyn was never valid in the first place, making him a free agent as a result.

However, it is still not clear who would be responsible for repaying the fee, which was split between United, who received £12m from Chelsea and Lyn, who got £4m, in the event of a guilty verdict, Andersen or the two clubs.

As the three parties all agreed to a confidentiality agreement when the compensation deal was signed in June 2006, the West London club have been unable to comment on the matter.

At the time of the initial dispute, both United and Chelsea claimed ownership of the Nigeria international, the former even announcing his signature in April 2005, before the latter did in fact land the much-coveted player.

It has been alleged that Andersen forged the contract Mikel signed with Lyn when he turned 18, which if true, would invalidate his transfer to Old Trafford and the subsequent compensation package agreed with Chelsea.
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The trial is expected to last for a fortnight and both Mikel and his agent, John Shittu, maybe required to give evidence via videiophone, while Fifa could also be forced to come involved if Chelsea ask for a revised settlement to be worked out.