Patrick Rees
A lot of buzz is going around the Theatre of Dreams regarding the future of Bastian Schweinsteiger. A couple of days back, ESPN reported that the 32-year-old has been made to train with Manchester United’s under-23 squad just because he has no future with the squad, as he is nothing more than a liability to the new manager. The German veteran was also left out in Rooney’s testimonial game against Everton, even though he was declared fit.
Looking at this situation, many footballing experts, including Bayern Munich’s president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, has accused Jose Mourinho for such treatment:
“I could hardly believe it. One or two players are going to think long and hard in future about whether they want to go to such a club,” Rummenigge said.
“Nothing like that has ever happened at Bayern Munich.”
Even Ottmar Hitzfeld, who gave Schweinsteiger his professional debut at the age of 18 has reacted to the situation:
“It’s a lack of respect for a worthy player,” Hitzfeld said. “It’s a method which is strange to me.
“Schweinsteiger is a key player, a world champion, a personality, while at the same time he has an exceptional attitude.”
Schweinsteiger, who joined the Reds last summer has had an injury full season and failed badly to reach up to the expectations.
Now, recently, the manager, Jose Mourinho, had his say when asked about the entire situation:
“What is happening is what is happening in every club in the world. Which is that the manager decides his squad and chooses a certain number of players to face the season, and that’s it.
“I normally like to work with 20 players plus the three goalkeepers, which is what I do for 15 years. But we have so many players, so many competitions, especially the Europa League, which changes the profile of the season a lot.
“You have the big risk of travelling a lot, playing Premier League. So I made the decision to play with 23 players and two goalkeepers, which is a lot. I had to make my decisions, it’s simple.”
Well, we all are aware of the fact that Jose Mourinho possesses a bad reputation when it comes to dealing with the veteran players of the club. We have the example of Iker Casillas and Kaka from Real Madrid and even Frank Lampard (his situation was different though) from Chelsea.
It is now very clear that the 32-year-old World Cup winner has no role in Mourinho’s script for the Reds, hence him staying at the club makes no sense. Reports from the Manchester United evening news are suggesting that both the Milan clubs are looking to lure him to Italy, but the thing that lies in the way is his salary. The same source has stated that he will have to cut down his salary if he is to join Italy.
There are many options the German veteran could go and one of those many is MLS and maybe China. There is no doubt that Schweinsteiger is one of the most decorated players in the sport, but he really is at the wrong place at the wrong time. He is struggling to cope up with the physicality aspect of the Premier League last season and besides that, Manchester United cannot really afford to spend much time on injuries now, they have had it all last season. Hence, we personally believe that the German should leave the Old Trafford if he really wants to play 2 or 3 more years in the top level.
