NIGERIAN football agent and player-manager, Olatunji John Shittu, will today meet with top officials of the London Metropolitan Police over the hacking of his telephone by reporters of the News of the World during the John Mikel Obi transfer saga between Manchester United and Chelsea in 2005.Shittu is one of the new set of victims of the phone hacking saga that led to the resting of the English newspaper after public outrage greeted the medium's unethical practices.In the past few weeks, London Metropolitan have contacted no fewer than 50 people over the News of the World phone hacking saga. They included Manchester United's star, Wayne Rooney, and his manager.Sources close to Shittu revealed that the football agent was contacted by the police a fortnight ago and they informed him they have evidences that his phone was hacked between 2005 and 2006 by News of the World reporters. The sources further revealed that he suspected his phone was hacked during the period and changed his number on a number of occasions.The agent, who is expected to attend today's meeting with his lawyers, has the option of either asking the management of News of the World for compensation or taking it to court.Many public figures have either taken it to court or asked for compensations in the last few months. They included Cherie Blair, the wife of the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, Alex Best, the wife of the Manchester United's former player, George Best, former boxer Chris Eubank, footballer Peter Crouch and his wife, Abigail Clancy.Others were Kieron Dyer, Jermaine Jenas, Paul Gascoigne, former British Prime Minister, Sir John Major's former daughter-in-law, Emma Noble, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham's father, Ted Beckham, and many others.When contacted, Shittu and Mikel declined to comment. It will be recalled that on April 29, 2005, Manchester United announced that it had struck a deal with Norwegian club, Lyn Oslo, to sign Mikel. Chelsea issued a counter-claim that it had an agreement with Mikel.Evidence released by Chelsea showed that the player had impressed then then Chelsea manager, Jos Mourinho, while training with the club in 2004. Mikel later revealed that he had been pressured into signing the contract with United without his agent present and that Chelsea was the club he genuinely wanted to sign for.United complained to FIFA about Chelsea and Shittu but FIFA dismissed these claims in August 2005. On June 2, 2006, Mikel's registration was to be transferred from Lyn to Chelsea, so Chelsea agreed to pay United 12 million and Lyn 4 million, half payable immediately and half in June 2007, and eventually, Morgan Andersen was convicted of fraud and false accusations.
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