Obi Mikel: Ferguson would have handled the Sancho case much better

Yesterday it was revealed that Manchester United will look to offload Jadon Sancho in January if he refuses to apologise to Erik ten Hag for his statements after he was dropped from the matchday squad against Arsenal.

This comes after the 23-year-old was banned from using all first-team facilities at Carrington after he claimed he was being made a 'scapegoat' in an online retort.

Former Chelsea player John Obi Mikel has slammed Manchester United manager for 'throwing Sancho under the bus' as the young English star's ongoing feud with the Dutchman continues.

Now, former Premier League midfielder Mikel, 36, has claimed Sir Alex Ferguson would never have dealt with this type of situation in the same way.

'Everybody is going about Sancho not apologising, I have a different view on that. My view is that the manager shouldn't have said what he said in public,' he told The Obi One podcast.

'I wouldn't come out publicly. When you listen to the ex-United players they've all said one thing: When things like this happen before during [Sir Alex] 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's it. You cannot come out publicly and criticise a player and 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? I think it should have been dealt with privately." added Mikel, who turned down a move to the Red Devils in 2006 in favour of Chelsea.

'Back in the day John Terry, this is where he got involved, he got involved in cases like this, went to the manager's office to have a chat, brought the player, because this is a player we need. Sancho is a player you kind of need.'

Ex-Man United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic recently questioned whether Ten Hag has fully adapted to life at the club a year after joining Ajax because of his treatment of 'big stars'.

'Coming from Ajax to United as he did is a big difference. I have been in both clubs. You have a different kind of discipline,' he told Piers Morgan Uncensored.

'Ajax is a talented club. They have the best talents in the club. They don't have big stars. What is the experience of this coach? Young talents, he comes to United, it is a different mentality.

'You need a plan, you need a project to follow. It feels like you follow a project plan and then it goes wild in a moment because of the results.

'Either you believe in it or you don't believe in it. But with the situation of the coach, I think he is living two different situations now.

'Then obviously what happened with Sancho and Cristiano, I don't know. When things are good, there are still errors and problems, but you don't see it because we are winning.'

Sancho's fate at Old Trafford is uncertain, his former club Borussia Dortmund are enquiring about bringing him back but his market price could be a massive obstacle.