Sir Alex Ferguson reunited with one of the few players who turned him down at Champions League final

Sir Alex Ferguson was reunited with one of the few players he failed to sign at Saturday night's Champions League final – and he didn't exactly look thrilled about it.

The former Manchester United manager, who spent 26 trophy-laden years at Old Trafford between 1986 and 2013, was used to getting his own way when the transfer window rolled around.

Notable signings include Steve Bruce, Eric Cantona, Peter Schmeichel, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, who would all go on to cement their name into the history books at United.

But on the (very) odd occasion, a player would turn down the advances of Ferguson and Manchester United. Case in point; John Obi Mikel.

The Nigerian midfielder signed a pre-contract with the Reds in 2005 after impressing for Norwegian outfit Lyn. In fact, he even trained with Roy Keane and Paul Scholes during a two-month trial spell.

Images of Mikel in a United shirt circulated in no time and even held a press conference was organised ahead of the impending transfer.

But in a surprise move, the teenager made a last minute to join bitter rivals Chelsea instead.

Almost two decades later and the pair were reunited at Wembley ahead of the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund as Mikel posed with Ferguson for a picture.

The image was soon posted to The Obi One Podcast account on X. "The boss. All is forgiven between @mikel_john_obi and Sir Alex Ferguson," the post read. "Lip readers out there might disagree, though."

👤 THE BOSS

All is forgiven between @mikel_john_obi & Sir Alex Ferguson. 🫱🏿‍🫲🏻

Lip readers out there might disagree, though. 😂#legends #cfc #mufc pic.twitter.com/yNEwEeUD5O

— The Obi One Podcast (@obionepodcast) June 2, 2024

So what happened that made Mikel change his mind?

"You know what made my mind up? Chelsea had signed three other players from Nigeria along with me," he told the Players Tribune.

"They were staying with me at the house in London to keep me company. These guys, their lives depended on the decision I was making. If I went to United, they were gone. If I went to Chelsea, they were going to have a career. No matter how long it lasted, that was important to me. Just to give them a chance, you know?

"I chose Chelsea, and four lives changed that day."

Mikel went on to explain that his father "wasn't too pleased" with his decision.

He added: "He wanted me to go to Manchester United because he loved Alex Ferguson. Back home in Nigeria, a lot of people were saying I should go to United because of how well they work with young players, whereas Chelsea just bought superstars.

"And it's true, I was only 18 years old and Chelsea had players like Lampard, Ballack and Makélélé in midfield. A lot of people in Nigeria doubted that I could even make the Chelsea team if I went there.

"I'll tell you what happened. I had all these people on both sides fighting over me. Agents, managers, strangers, guys handing me papers. I had Sir Alex Ferguson calling me on the phone on one side. And I had Roman Abramovich on the other side, putting me up in London, hiding me somewhere where only a few people knew where I was. It was really confusing, and I was a kid, you know?"

Last year, Mikel revealed what happened when he told Ferguson about picking Chelsea over United – and it's safe to say he wasn't best pleased with the outcome.

Speaking to talkSPORT, he said: "I did have a meeting with Fergie at the FA office in London because the FA also wanted to get involved and was like, 'We need to get this player playing, he's a young player, he needs to play football.'

"It was just me and him in a room, yeah that was feisty that. I had my agent sitting outside and he was like, 'When you go into this meeting, because he's going to try to brainwash, everything he says, just make sure you say no.'

"So I went into that office, into that meeting, so everything he was saying I was like, 'Ah, I'm sorry boss, I can't play for United, it was a mistake, I didn't mean to sign.'

"It was a long table, he was sitting right over there and I was sitting at the edge of the table.

"He was sitting at the other edge, I could see him go red, he was like, 'Are you sure you don't want to play for United, the biggest club in the world?' He's like, 'What is it you want, do you want more money? What is it you want, I'll give it to you.'

"I was like, 'Sorry boss, I can't play for United, I want to go to Chelsea.' So we had about 20 or 30 minutes in the room and he walked off and then that was it.

"He walked away, and then the next couple of weeks he was like, 'OK, well I'm not going to let him go for free,' so [Chelsea paid] £14million to United and £4 million to Lyn."