Former Super Eagles captain and Chelsea star, John Obi Mikel, has expressed his disapproval of Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag’s decision to address the ongoing feud with Jadon Sancho in a public manner.
Recent reports have revealed that Man United is contemplating offloading Sancho in January if he fails to apologize to Ten Hag for his statements following his exclusion from the matchday squad against Arsenal.
As a consequence of his online remarks, the 23-year-old was prohibited from using any first-team facilities at Carrington, as he claimed to be a ‘scapegoat.’
In response to the situation, former Premier League midfielder Mikel, aged 36, has highlighted that Sir Alex Ferguson, the legendary former manager of Manchester United, would have handled this kind of situation differently.
Speaking on The Obi One podcast, Mikel criticized Manchester United coach Erik ten Hag, stating, “‘Everybody is going about Sancho not apologizing, I have a different view on that. My view is that the manager shouldn’t have said what he said in public.”
Mikel went on to explain, “When you listen to the ex-United players, they’ve all said one thing: when similar incidents occurred during Ferguson’s era, they were dealt with internally. Ferguson handled such matters behind closed doors.”
“It doesn’t matter how he handled it, but he handled it. If his decision was to exclude the player from the team, so be it. Publicly criticizing a player and stating that he wasn’t training well is not the appropriate approach.”
Having rejected a move to Manchester United in 2006 in favor of Chelsea, Mikel added, “What do you expect the player to do? You publicly addressed the issue, and now I’m expected to apologize? I believe it should have been handled privately.”
Drawing upon past experiences, Mikel mentioned, “John Terry, for instance, used to intervene in such cases. He would go to the manager’s office to hold discussions, bringing the player along, because that player was crucial to the team. Sancho is also a player of importance.”
