Schweinsteiger ‘sad’ at Manchester United treatment | OneFootball

Bastian Schweinsteiger has said he was ‘very sad’ about his treatment at Manchester United after being told he could not train with the first team under Jose Mourinho.

Schweinsteiger signed for the Red Devils from Bayern Munich in 2015 but endured a disappointing two-season spell in the Premier League, in which the World Cup winner struggled with fitness issues and made only 18 league appearances.

The German arrived under Louis van Gaal’s tenure with a huge reputation, having won eight Bundesliga titles and the Champions League among his honours during a decorated career with Bayern Munich.

However, he saw his time with the club cut short after the appointment of Mourinho in 2016. Schweinsteiger has revealed how he was told, without warning, that he could not enter the first-team dressing room and forced to train with the youth side as the club looked to offload him.

“I was very sad because United was the second club of my heart,” Schweinsteiger told the Overlap.

“I gave a lot when I played as well, so that’s why I was sad, but I’m not the type of person to go running to the media. It’s more important for me to focus on football and behave the way I did.

“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, (football director) John Murtough was there and said that I wasn’t allowed to walk into the dressing room – the coach had said so.

“I had to ask him to bring me my cleats and training gear. I asked him who I was training with, and he said there was the under-16 team, so I went and trained with the under-16s.”

Schweinsteiger made just four appearances, none of which came in the Premier League, after Mourinho’s appointment before asking the club to leave. He said he received an apology from the Manchester United manager over his treatment after requesting to depart for MLS side Chicago Fire.

“The first time someone apologised was when I decided to leave Manchester United for America,” Schweinsteiger said.

“I asked Jose if I could do that and he apologised for the way he treated me in the beginning. He had to let me go because he could not do something against me again.”

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