Ten Hag slammed over how he treated this midfielder

Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Tim Sherwood has slammed Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag over how he treated midfielder Hannibal Mejbri.

Sherwood is not pleased with Ten Hag for not giving Mejbri, who came through Man United’s youth academy, a chance in the first team under Ten Hag following his season-long loan at Birmingham City last season.

So far this season, the Tunisia international has made four appearances for the Red Devils. He scored in their Premier League defeat to Brighton in September.

The 20-year-old midfielder made appearances in the Red Devils’ Carabao Cup win over Crystal Palace and was handed 45 minutes in the UEFA Champions League defeat to Galatasaray.

When asked about Ten Hag’s selection decisions, Sherwood told Sky Sports: “He seems to pick superstars. £50m, £70m, £100m players – he throws them onto the pitch and hopes one of them does something to get him out of the mire.

“That is what has happened. He’s had to go to a kid in the academy to do that for him now. Hannibal got into that side.

“Say what you want about him and people will say, ‘He’s not a £100m player; he’s not this or that’ – but he went to Birmingham, worked hard on loan there, he came back, and for me, he was Man of the Match in a couple games.

“But as soon as someone else is fit, he is out the door. Sit on the bench, son. Someone else comes in and strolls around the pitch, doesn’t want to run around or get the ball back. It’s up to the manager to put the cocktail together.

“They can’t all be superstars. You look at the best Man Utd teams; it was a lot of academy boys. When you cut them in half, they bleed the colour of the club. It means more to them.”