£14.5m Manchester United signing 'very sad' after training ban

Bastian Schweinsteiger has detailed the shocking treatment he received from Jose Mourinho during his time at Manchester United.

Schweinsteiger was initially signed by Louis van Gaal in 2015, having been coached by the Dutchman at Bayern Munich. The defensive midfielder was among the world’s best in his peak but arrived in a £14.5million deal at 30-years-old and struggled to settle in the Premier League.

Mourinho replaced Van Gaal while Schweinsteiger wat at the European Championships in Germany and after going far in the competition, he arrived for pre-season a little later than others. Now speaking to former teammate Gary Neville, the German has detailed how he was ostracised by his new manager.

"I was very sad because United was the second club of my heart," Schweinsteiger told The Overlap of his situation at United. "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. When I came back from training with the under 16s, where I trained so bad because I didn't know what was going on or it was a joke, I then had a meeting with (Mourinho) in the afternoon.

“He explained to me that he didn't see me happy here at United because when I had my injury, I did my rehab with German doctors, spending time in Germany.”

Individual training followed a brief stint with the under-16s but Schweinsteiger did not train with his senior teammates for three months under Mourinho. The midfielder was completely isolated and was never allowed to see other players, with an apology only coming at the end of his career in Manchester.

“Sometimes I'd pass by a few or get a message,” the former midfielder said. “They said that they didn't understand the decision, but I didn't see them. I had to train in the morning or after their session to not see them.

“The first time someone apologised was when I decided to leave United for America, and asked Jose if I could do that, he then apologised for the way he treated me in the beginning and he had to let me go because he could not say no to me in that moment.”