Mikel joined United in 2005, but then challenged this to successfully move to Premier League foes Chelsea from Lyn Oslo.

"Because of his talent and his young age we thought we could have developed him [Mikel] the right way," Ferguson told kickoffnigeria.com. "At the time we were disappointed because we thought that Mikel would be a Manchester United player.

"But he chose Chelsea in the real sense of the matter and there was nothing we could do about that.

"In the past we have witnessed circumstances like this but you have to forget everything and move on."