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Norwegian club, Lyn Oslo, have given Nigerian midfielder, John Mikel Obi, until Friday to report for duty or face possible sanctions from FIFA.
Norwegian club, Lyn Oslo, have given Nigerian midfielder, John Mikel Obi, until Friday to report for duty or face possible sanctions from FIFA.
FIFA's Dispute Resolution Chamber ruled last week that Obi, who fled Norway, after a contractual dispute, 'has to immediately resume duties with Lyn Oslo FC."
'He should be back by Friday at the latest," Lyn Oslo's Sporting Director, Morgen Anderson, told BBC Sport on Monday.
Obi, who claimed he was forced by Lyn to sign a contract with Manchester United in April but subsequently said he prefered to play for Chelsea, has been absent without leave for nearly four months.
'If Mikel is to play for Nigeria in their friendly match against Libya, we expect the Nigerian Football Association to send a fax to us, guaranteeing he will be back in Oslo 24 hours after the game against Libya," Anderson said.
Obi is supposed to make his debut for Nigeria in the friendly slated for Wednesday (tomorrow).
Anderson added,'If he fails to return, we will inform FIFA and they will take a decision on this, to ensure that he does return to do his work.
'We have tried to reach him without success but have made contact through other people, who said that he would be happy to return to Oslo."
Reacting to FIFA's order, Obi, who was on his way to Libya, told BBC Sport that he would respect the ruling of the football's governing body and return to Lyn.
'I'll be going back to Norway after the friendly against Libya. I have to respect FIFA's ruling," Obi said.
'My agent and I will be going to meet officials of Lyn and hopefully sort things out," he said.
Although the decision of FIFA's DRC was silent on the validity of Obi's transfer to Manchester United, said to be worth over US$7 million, Anderson told BBC Sport it will go ahead as planned.
'If our contract with Obi is valid we cannot see how this contract (with Manchester United) is not valid," Anderson argued.
'The transfer to Manchester United was not part of the case before the DRC.
'The matter that was decided by the body was the contract between us and John Mikel Obi.
'This was the only case that was tested. The rest of it may be examined later, if that is necessary."
John Ola Shittu, the agent who is managing Obi's career, told BBC Sport on Friday that the player intended to make use of his rights, under Article 60 of the FIFA statutes, to make an appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
That does not ruffle Anderson, who said his club was prepared 'to go all the way."
'We are confident in our case and have not done anything wrong, according to any legal, sporting or moral laws.
'It's an important case to test and we look forward to meeting them," Anderson said.
The PUNCH, Tuesday, August 16, 2005