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'I'm finally saying it' Munich legend's shocking revelations
Former Germany international midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has revealed that he was treated unfairly by then-manager Jose Mourinho during his time at Manchester United.
Schweinsteiger was one of the members of the 2014 World Cup winning squad in Brazil, and after winning eight Bundesliga titles and one Champions League title with Bayern Munich, he joined United in 2015 looking for a new challenge.
A key midfield player under Louis van Gaal in his first season, Schweinsteiger suddenly disappeared from the squad after Mourinho's arrival in the summer of 2016.
"I was really happy to play with Zlatan Ibrahimovic (after returning from the Euros)," 'Shushu' (as he is affectionately known) told podcast Overlap, "but the next day, on my birthday, I was kicked out of the first-team locker room. There was no warning, no explanation. I didn't know anything. I went to the youth team locker room and trained with the U-16 players," he recalls of his horrific past.
"I had a meeting with Mourinho that afternoon," Schweinsteiger recalls, "and he told me that he was upset that I had stayed in Germany when I was injured and that I had dealt with German doctors. I had fulfilled what was agreed upon when I was sold, but the club felt differently. I was the only first-team player to be kicked out of the youth locker room. I trained alone with a fitness coach for at least three months," he said.
"I think they wanted to get rid of me. At the time I was happy at Man United. I liked wearing the United shirt. I thought it would be temporary, that if I trained hard and kept my form, maybe one day (the manager) would change his mind. My dream was always to go back to Old Trafford," he said.
Schweinsteiger said he was "very sad" about Mourinho's decision. "It's illegal, he shouldn't have done that, he should have come to me then," said Gary Neville, the former United defender and former head of the Professional Footballers' Association, who conducted the interview.
Schweinsteiger eventually left for the Chicago Fire in 2017 after not playing a single game in the league in the 2016-2017 season. He said he received an apology from club officials around the time of his departure.