Football News

Bastian Schweinsteiger has revealed that he was banished from Manchester United's first-team squad by Jose Mourinho on his 32nd birthday and forced to train with the club's under-16s.

Schweinsteiger had been brought to United by Louis van Gaal a year earlier, with the Dutchman credited for developing him from a winger into a world class central midfielder during a previous spell together at Bayern Munich. After initially being a key player, injury had limited the German to only one start in the second half of 2015/16 and adversely affected his impact at Euro 2016.

But having reported for pre-season back at United that summer, Mourinho seemingly decided on the first day that Schweinsteiger wasn't going to have a role under the new direction and banished him from the first team squad.

«I was very sad because United was the second club of my heart. 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,» the 39-year-old told Gary Neville on .

«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 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 [boots] 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 them. The first time someone apologised was when I decided to leave Manchester United for America.

«I asked Jose if I could do that and he apologised for

Gary Neville Louis Van-Gaal John Murtough Bayern Munich Bastian Schweinsteiger World Cup