Manchester United: Bastian Schweinsteiger reveals Jose Mourinho banned him from dressing room | OneFootball

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Bastian Schweinsteiger says Jose Mourinho banned him from Manchester United first-team training, and forced him to keep fit with the Under-16s during his last months at the club.

The German midfielder joined the club in 2015 when Louis van Gaal was manager, but struggled to find fitness and missed most of the second half of the season. Despite his injury issues, he featured in 31 games and went on to play at Euro 2016.

Mourinho took charge of the club that summer and immediately took exception to Schweinsteiger’s delayed return to the squad. He got football director John Murtough to banish the midfielder from the first-team dressing room and played him just four times before a March 2017 move to Chicago Fire.

"It was [pre-season] 2016 and I was with the German national team, we went far in the competition [Euros] reaching the semi-finals, so I stepped in a little later [at United] and the team were in the U.S. for a pre-season tour,” Schweinsteiger told Gary Neville on the Overlap podcast.

Bastien Schweinsteiger as Manchester United

Tom Purslow/Man Utd via Getty Images

“When I arrived on the first day, I trained with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and thought it was great, a player who has the vision and is amazing to play with.

"The next day, on my birthday, when I walked into [United's training ground] Carrington, John Murtough was there and said that I wasn't allowed to walk into the dressing room, the coach had said so. No warning, nothing. I don't know [why he told me].

“Someone could have told me there [on my first day of training] or explained it to me in a normal way, but okay, I went to the youth dressing room and trained with the under-16s.

“Yes, [he] completely [kicked me out of the first-team dressing room], so I had to ask [Murtough] to bring me my cleats and training gear. I asked him who I was training with, and he said there was the U16 team, so I went and trained with the U16."

He added: “I asked him whether I could talk to the manager in the afternoon, so when I came back from training with the under 16s, where I trained so bad because I didn't know what was going on or it was a joke, I then had a meeting with [Mourinho] in the afternoon. He explained to me that he didn't see me happy here at United because when I had my injury, I did my rehab with German doctors, spending time in Germany.

"Of course, I came back to United and was in contact with doctors and watched the games - I had a conversation with Louis van Gaal when he was coach, and he said to come on the weekends to United and remain in contact with the doctors, they needed me fit and there was an FA Cup final which I almost played. That was our agreement and I kept to it.

“For me, I just wanted to get healthy and wanted to be able to play - I stuck to the agreement with Louis van Gaal but obviously the board thought a little differently about that. It was just me [that got moved to the youth dressing room]. After that, I was training alone for at least three months with a fitness coach. I trained before and after the [first] team. No [José never let me train with the first team], I guess they wanted to get rid of me.

"In that moment, I was still super happy at United, I loved to wear the jersey, I loved it. I was thinking that maybe it was just a period, I will train now and keep myself fit and maybe one day they'll change their mind. My dream was to always step back out into Old Trafford." Neville, who was interviewing Schweinsteiger, was shocked by Mourinho’s actions, replying: “I was the PFA Union Representative, and you’re not allowed to do that. You can’t dismiss someone like that, it’s constructive dismissal in some ways. I’m stunned and embarrassed at what I’m hearing because I always think, players leave clubs and people fall out, but there is a way to do things and a way to behave and act.” Schweinsteiger eventually got an apology from the club and Mourinho when he decided to join the Chicago Fire.