EX Super Eagles of Nigeria midfielder, John Mikel Obi, has faulted Manchester United’s Manager, Erik Ten Hag, for publicly criticising winger, Jadon Sancho and expecting an apology.
The Dutchman had publicly criticised the player for not meeting the professional standards expected of a Man United player. Sancho, in his defence, responded to the manager with a statement accusing his manager of making him a scapegoat for the Red Devils’ underperformance.
Things went worse after that as the player is yet to make an appearance for the team since the incident, and was reported to have been banned from the training ground.
“Everybody is going about Sancho not apologising, I have a different view on that. My view is that the manager should not have said what he said in public,” Mikel said on The Obi One podcast.
“I would not come out publicly. When you listen to the ex-United players they have all said one thing. When things like this happened before during Ferguson, it was dealt with inside the dressing room, he handled it.
“It doesn’t matter how he handled it but he handled it. If his decision was for the player not to be involved anymore, that is it. You cannot come out publicly and criticise a player and say he was not training really well.
“What do you expect the player to do? You came out publicly, I came out publicly, why do you expect me to apologise? I think it should have been dealt with privately. If he was late to training, he wasn’t performing, there is a different way to deal with it,” he added.
The 23-year-old former Dortmund star has made 58 premier league appearances for the Red Devils, scoring nine goals and providing six assists.
