Roy Keane has been told his criticism of Harry Maguire is 'too personal'.
The former Republic of Ireland captain has been very critical of the Manchester United captain over the past year as the Red Devils had a dismal season.
But Gabriel Agbonlahor claims Keane crossed the line at times with his criticism of the England defender.
Agbonlahor told talkSport: "Pundits like Roy Keane, who really come for players like Maguire a bit too personally for my liking, and then everyone feels that what Keane says is how it should be.
"Then people have made decisions on Maguire because of what pundits like Keane say."
The former Aston Villa striker believes Maguire is currently the best defender at Old Trafford.
He added: "So I think that he gets a lot of stick that he doesn't deserve. He's Manchester United's best defender.
"You look at Varane and Lindelof and they have both been very poor this season and as a country we should be getting behind our players not booing them and not trying to put them off their game."
It's not the first time that a former player has suggested that Keane's criticism goes too far, with Danny Mills claiming the former United# captain can be "particularly vicious at times".
He said earlier this year: “Roy Keane has massive influence, unbelievable. Roy Keane says it, it’s gospel.
“I think when Roy Keane speaks we all sit up and listen. I think he’s got huge gravitas in the game, for what he’s achieved, for what he’s done and everything he’s gone through and achieved in the game.
“You do have to listen but he can be particularly vicious at times.
“If Alan Shearer, Ian Wright or Jamie Redknapp says that we just go ‘okay, that’s their opinion.’ But when Roy Keane says it, everyone goes ‘that’s the right opinion because Roy Keane has said it.'
“How many times have these people seen Harry Maguire play for 90 minutes? They’ll have seen snippets and they’ll have heard comments from Roy Keane everywhere no matter what.
“No matter how he’s played, if Roy Keane says he’s had an absolute shocker and it’s disgraceful and he’s had a stinker we all go ‘well, he has done’, even without watching the game ourselves and going through it.
“We listen because it’s Roy Keane and he’s spoken so without seeing it as ourselves we take his opinion as gospel. Maybe we shouldn’t do that.
“Then you get memes, then you get social media and trolls and everything else comes into it and it does influence opinion.”
Speaking about Maguire in April, Keane said he had not been good enough for United during the season.
He told Sky Sports: "It’s been a tough season for the team and Harry has not played well enough. He’s used the word pride and we need to see more of that because you’re going to lose matches. But the way United have lost some matches this year they’ve not shown enough pride.
"It’s been hard for Harry Maguire. When you’re trying to lead a group, and it looks like they’re not a great group, they don’t look like they’ve got real fight and desire when things are going against them."
Keane previously said that the most important thing for Maguire is to sort his own form before worrying about anything else.
He told The Overlap in March: “He should make sure he’s playing well himself. Whatever about the different demands, make sure you’re playing well. The rest will come from there. But while Harry is struggling with his own form, people will still come back to the captaincy.
“You can get carried away with the captaincy. Just try and be a good teammate, and a good player. Try and train properly. Do all the basics right, and the rest will fall into place.”
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts
