José Mourinho’s clear-out of fringe players has started at Manchester United, with Bastian Schweinsteiger seemingly the main casualty of this stance.
The former German international has not played a single minute for United in pre-season after returning from an extended break after Euro 2016 and this week was banished to train with the reserves after being told by Mourinho that he has no future at Old Trafford, along with several other players.
Schweinsteiger will be secretly puzzled at how far his stock has fallen since joining United from Bayern Munich just a year ago – he left Bavaria as a bonafide club legend, but his spell in Manchester has been hampered by injury and the 32-year-old has only shown glimpses of what he can do.
Having bought Schweinsteiger for a mere £6.5 million, former manager Louis van Gaal said that the midfielder would be useful on and off the pitch, having won almost everything with club and country.
And there were spells where he showed the drive and talent that dragged Germany to the World Cup back in 2014, but unfortunately injuries would rob Schweinsteiger of any momentum that he had built and once he recovered from these niggles, he would have to start from square one and never really regained the form he showed early in the season.
Although not everything came off for Schweinsteiger on the pitch in his first season with United, one thing that was noticeable from the off was how quickly he adapted to life at the club. In pre-match warm-ups, he would be joking with his fellow players, putting their minds at ease, but once the action began, it was 100 percent focus – constantly talking and telling players where to make runs and where to pass the ball to.
That’s the sign of a real leader – something United have sorely lacked in recent years. Except Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick and the newly arrived Zlatan Ibrahimovic, many of United’s current crop haven’t won much silverware and had not proven that they could handle sustained pressure and keep a cool head in tough situations.
It stands to reason that Schweinsteiger will not be a regular starter at United with the imminent return of Paul Pogba to Old Trafford, but the Fußballgott can still play 25-30 games a season with a good amount of rotation to keep him fresh and minimise the amount of niggles he receives. United will be involved in the Europa League this season and Thursday night football means that rotation will be vital if Mourinho wants to keep his side fresh throughout the season.
United also lack a real controlling presence in midfield – save for the increasingly immobile Carrick, many of the Reds’ midfielders aren’t really comfortable with the ball at their feet and don’t have the technique or vision to pick apart a defence. Schweinsteiger can be that man if he adapts his style from a box-to-box runner to one that can control the tempo of a game.
This banishing to the reserves will bring back memories for Schweinsteiger – as a youngster, he was surprisingly forced to train with the reserves at Bayern Munich under Felix Magath at the start of the 2005-06 season, despite impressing with Germany at the Confederations Cup that summer.
However, he fought his way back into contention that same season and went on to become the player that we all love today. United fans would love it if Schweinsteiger does the same once again and finds his way into Mourinho’s plans, but it seems that the Special One’s mind is made up and Basti may be gone before the end of this transfer window.
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