Mikel, Pedro And The Top 5 Hijacked Deals By Chelsea

Chelsea have announced the £21.1million signing of Pedro from Barcelona on a four-year deal.

After a dismal start to the season, Jose Mourinho hijacked Manchester United's move for the forward and have now completed deal.

United have been after the forward all summer but have reportedly pulled out after learning that the Spain International is interested in a move to London.

These are five other players Chelsea have hijacked from other clubs.

1. John Obi Mikel From Manchester United

We start with our own Nigeria International John Mikel Obi.

The midfielder was then playing for Lyn Oslo in Norway and agreed a move to Manchester United.

Mikel signed documents to join United in April 2005 with the club even announcing that they had struck a deal to sign the midfielder on their official website. 

Mikel was even pictured holding a United jersey during a press conference as he was touted to be a long-term replacement for Paul Scholes.

Agents were bypassed as the club wanted to deal directly with the player but it proved to a mistake as Mikel felt he was meant to sign the documents under duress saying he preferred to join Chelsea.

Chelsea finally got their man after paying a compensation Lyn Oslo and United.

2. Petr Cech From Arsenal

Before finally joining Arsenal in this transfer window, Cech had nearly made that move in 2004.

Arsene Wenger had passed up on an opportunity to sign the goalkeeper in 2002 and two years later nearly got him before Chelsea came in to hijack the move.

3. Arjen Robben From Manchester United

Pedro is not the first player Chelsea snatched from United.

They did exactly the same thing back in 2003 when former coach Sir Alex Ferguson tabled a £5m bid for Arjen Robben in PSV.

PSV rejected the bid because it was way below their valuation of the player. Chelsea immediately came in to swoop on the player for £12.1m.

4. Juan Mata from Arsenal

Arsenal thought they had their man after agreeing a deal with the player in the summer of 2011. The deal was to be completed when the then Valencia midfielder return from his vacation. He however did not come back from that vacation as he was signed by Chelsea.

It was reported that Roman Abramovich flew a private jet to pick up the midfielder from his vacation slocation and signed him.

5. Mohamed Salah From Liverpool

Liverpool were the victim this time after almost signing forward Mohamed Salah.

The forward was almost on the verge of a Liverpool medicals before Chelsea swooped in.