Mourinho apologises to Schweinsteiger
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho regrets the way he treated Bastian Schweinsteiger and apologised to the midfielder before his switch to the Chicago Fire.
What had long felt an inevitable exit was confirmed last week, with the 32-year-old swopping Old Trafford for Major League Soccer.
Schweinsteiger largely flattered to deceive at United after arriving in 2015, but the World Cup winner had precious little chance to turn things around once frozen out by Mourinho the following summer.
The former Germany midfielder dropped so far down the pecking order that the club even wrote him off as an asset in their accounts, only for him to make a surprise return from the cold.
Schweinsteiger made four appearances after being brought back into the first team in late October, but was last week granted a move to the US - a deal Mourinho could not stand in the way of having accepted he mistreated him.
"He's in the category of players that I feel sorry for something that I did to him," said Mourinho, whose team play West Bromwich Albion today.
"I don't want to speak about him as a player, I don't want to speak as I buy or not to buy. I want to speak about him as a professional, as a human being.
"The last thing I told him before he left was 'I was not right with you once, I have to be right with you now'.
"So when he was asking me to let him leave I had to say 'yes, you can leave' because I did it once, I cannot do it twice." - PA SPORT
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
