Bastian Schweinsteiger has revealed how Jose Mourinho kicked him out of the Manchester United locker room and made him train with the U-16 team.

When he joined Old Trafford in 2015, Schweinsteiger had an impressive career at Bayern Munich. He was a cornerstone under Louis van Gaal but encountered issues when Jose Mourinho took over the club in the summer of 2016.

What Schweinsteiger said?

In a recent interview with Gary Neville on the Stick to Football podcast, sponsored by Sky Bet, Schweinsteiger revealed about his forgettable time at Manchester United, particularly emphasizing the tense relationship between him and manager Mourinho.

“It was in 2016, and I reached the Euro semi-finals with the German national team, so I returned to the club a bit late. At that time, MU was in the US for the pre-season tour,” Schweinsteiger recalled.

“When I got back to Man Utd, I trained with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and everything seemed great. The next day, on my birthday, as I walked into Carrington, John Murtough (Man Utd’s Football Director) appeared and said I wasn’t allowed in the locker room, because the manager had ordered it. There was no warning, and no reason given. Eventually, I went to the youth team locker room and trained with the U-16s.”

Schweinsteiger further shared that John Murtough “brought shoes and training gear” for him.

“I asked him who I would train with. He said the U-16 team was training today. So, I went to train with the U-16 team,” Schweinsteiger continued.

“I asked the Director if it would be possible to speak with the coach in the afternoon. I just finished training with the youth team and didn’t understand what was going on. Was it some kind of joke? Later, I had a meeting with Mourinho in the afternoon.

“He explained that he didn’t see me happy at United. The reason was that when I was injured, I went back to Germany for treatment with the doctors there. Of course, I still came back to United and met the club’s doctors. Manager Louis van Gaal allowed it, but obviously, the club’s leadership had a different opinion on that matter.”

The German midfielder expressed disappointment at being excluded from the first team, emphasizing that he had been separated from his teammates for a long time.

“For at least three months, I trained alone with a fitness coach,” he shared. “I trained before or after the first team. Mourinho never let me train with the first team. I guess they wanted to get rid of me. At that time, I was still very happy at United, I loved wearing the team’s shirt. I thought this phase would soon pass. I would train and keep myself fit, and perhaps someday they would change their minds. My dream has always been to return to Old Trafford.”

Overview

Gary Neville, former Manchester United player and Representative of the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), condemned Mourinho’s treatment of Schweinsteiger, calling it “unlawful.”

“I am a Representative of the Professional Footballers’ Association, and he is not allowed to do that. That’s not how you terminate a player’s contract,” Gary Neville said. “It’s too late to say it now, but he should have come to talk to me at that time. I am shocked and embarrassed by the story he told. For me, a player may leave the club due to conflict, but everyone must behave and act professionally.”

Did Mourinho apologize?

Despite Mourinho later apologizing to Schweinsteiger, the impact of the incident deeply wounded the German legend.

In March 2017, Mourinho publicly apologized to Schweinsteiger. He said, “I don’t want to speak about him as a player. I don’t want to speak about whether I buy or not buy him. I want to speak about him as a professional human being, a man who lived here for a period of intense professionalism.”

“The last thing I told him before he left was, ‘I was not right with you once. So, I have to be right with you now.’ So when he asks to leave, I couldn’t stop him. I feel sorry for his time here. He knows that. I will remember Schweinsteiger as a good guy, a professional player, someone who had a positive impact in training.”

Schweinsteiger parted ways with the Red Devils in 2017. He signed a two-year contract with MLS club Chicago Fire.