Former Chelsea midfielder John Mikel Obi has criticized Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag for publicly criticizing Jadon Sancho’s performance. Mikel Obi believes Ten Hag was wrong to do so and that it doesn’t make sense for Sancho to apologize.
In September, Ten Hag publicly stated that Sancho was not meeting the professional standards expected at Manchester United, citing poor training performance as the reason for his absence during a match against Arsenal.
Sancho responded on social media, accusing his manager of making him a scapegoat for the team’s poor performance. Mikel Obi expressed his view on The Obi One podcast, saying, “The manager should not have said what he said in public.”
READ ALSO: Rashford, Maguire plead with Sancho to apologize to Ten Hag to end exile
Ten Hag was wrong: Mikel
He added, “I would not come out publicly. When things like this happened before during Ferguson’s time, it was dealt with inside the dressing room. It doesn’t matter how he handled it, but he handled it. You cannot come out publicly and criticize a player and say he was not training really well. What do you expect the player to do? I think it should have been dealt with privately.”
Mikel Obi also highlighted the importance of handling such matters internally and mentioned that legendary former Manchester United captain John Terry used to get involved in similar situations.
Sancho, at 23 years old, is seen as a valuable player with potential. Mikel Obi hopes the situation can be resolved for him to return to the pitch, but if not, he may need to consider other options.
READ ALSO; Jadon Sancho and Ten Hag clash: Romano reveals what happened
Jadon Sancho and Ten Hag clash: Romano reveals what happened
In another news, Jadon Sancho, Manchester United’s winger, and Manchester United’s coach, Ten Hag, are at loggerheads because Sancho was benched for the Arsenal game due to Poor training.
According to the Italian journalist Romano, there has been tension for the past few weeks because Ten Hag and his staff were unhappy with Sancho’s training. They expected better from him.
But Sancho believes there’s another reason he was left out, unrelated to his training. He didn’t want to say what it was, but there was clearly tension between them.
