Former Arsenal captain Robin van Persie has taken aim at Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel over his management of Hakim Ziyech.

The winger will be desperate for a starting place on Saturday when Chelsea line-up in Porto for the Champions League final, the biggest game of the 28-year-old's career.

Van Persie, who faced-off with Ziyech in the Eredivisie while playing-out the final two seasons of his iconic career, is struggling to understand Tuchel's approach.

"It is actually a shame that the creativity of players like Ziyech, Pulisic and Kovacic – who I think is a brilliant player – is not being expressed," he told De Telegraaf.

"Kovacic is their engine and playmaker. Ziyech also has those qualities higher up the pitch, but he should have a much bigger role in the team.

"He is now constantly searching [for a place in the team], being played in all different positions. But surely it can't be that difficult to give such a creative player a good position, right?

"You can also see it differently, first give Ziyech and Kovacic an important role and then let players like Kante and other types work around them."