Chelsea legend John Mikel obi has slammed Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag for his harsh treatment of Jadon Sancho.

The former Blues midfielder feels the Dutchman shouldn’t have criticised the player publicly, rather he should have dealt with the issue internally.

Speaking on The Obi One Podcast, John Obi Mikel said: “I think calling Jadon Sancho out should be a no-no. Everybody’s going about Sancho not apologising, my view is that the manager shouldn’t have said what he said in public.

“You can’t publicly and criticise a player, say he wasn’t 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? There’s a different way to deal with it.

“There have been a few bad results, Manchester United is not playing well. Erik ten Hag thought ‘I’m going to find a scapegoat’. I don’t know how this is going to go but I hope they find a way to resolve it because Sancho is a top player.”

Sancho remains banned from all-first facilities and activities at Old Trafford after his public spat with Ten Hag.

Meanwhile, Mikel was said to be a loyal player in dressing room. The only past Chelsea manager he ever criticised publicly was Antonio Conte, who treated him poorly, following his desire to play for Nigeria at the Olympics.