Schweinsteiger’s redemption?
Jose Mourinho has named his final Premier League squad for the season ahead and he’s put a certain German on the list.
Each club were due to submit their 25-man panels on September 1 and anyone not selected would be ineligible for the forthcoming campaign but, despite being banished to train with the reserves thus far under the new manager, Bastian Schweinsteiger has been handed an olive branch.
There’s only so much grace one man can portray in the face of adversity.
When van Gaal left, Schweiny ushered in the Jose era with class.
“I think Louis van Gaal and I have a very special relationship,” he said.
“If Mourinho does take over at United, I think all of the players want to train under him so it’s going to be quite a special season.”
Even when he was nowhere to be seen, he was classy enough to wish the team luck.
Good luck for today’s @premierleague start, guys! @ManUtd
— Bastian Schweinsteiger (@BSchweinsteiger) August 14, 2016
Then he released a statement… and it was classy.
A brief message to the amazing fans about my current situation. @ManUtd pic.twitter.com/Rf3jLKNwK4
— Bastian Schweinsteiger (@BSchweinsteiger) August 24, 2016
That classy classiness has worked for him though. Schweinsteiger has maintained his dignity and he has, at the very least, maintained his place in United’s first-team squad.
Each Premier League team were instructed to name a 25-man squad of which eight places are reserved for home-grown players aged over 21, leaving 17 spots for non-homegrown players.
The bad news for the former German captain is that United only bothered naming 24 in that official list because – despite what you might believe about Mourinho’s hatred of young people – they have so many players like Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, and Luke Shaw that fall under the under-21 category.
It would’ve been pretty unnecessary to leave him out.
Manchester United official 25-man squad
From the Premier League (*= home-grown)
Bailly, Eric Bertrand
Blind, Daley
*Carrick, Michael
Darmian, Matteo
De Gea Quintana, David
Depay, Memphis
El-Fitouri, Sadik
Fellaini-Bakkioui, Marouane
Herrera Aguera, Ander
Ibrahimovic, Zlatan
*Johnstone, Samuel Luke
*Jones, Philip Anthony
*Lingard, Jesse Ellis
Mata Garcia, Juan Manuel
Mkhitaryan, Henrikh
*Pogba, Paul Labile
Rojo, Faustino Marcos Alberto
Romero, Sergio German
*Rooney, Wayne Mark
*Schneiderlin, Morgan
Schweinsteiger, Bastian
*Smalling, Christopher
Valencia Mosquera, Luis Antonio
*Young, Ashley Simon
Under-21 players (Contract and Scholars)
Barlow, Aidan Will
Barrett, Jake George
Bohui, Joshua Raymond
Boonen, Indy Zeb Pepe
Borthwick-Jackson, Cameron Jake
Burkart, Nishan Connell
Castro Pereira, Joel Dinis
Chong, Tahith
Dearnley, Zachary Harry
Diedrick-Roberts, Kayne Leevi
Doughty, Joshua Anders
Dunne, Max Edward
Ercolani, Luca
Fojticek, Alex
Fosu-Mensah, Evans Timothy Fosu
Gomes, Adilson Angel Abreu de Almeida
Goss, Sean Richard
Gribbin, Callum Anthony
Hamilton, Ethan Billy
Harrop, Joshua Andrew
Henderson, Dean Bradley
Hoelgebaum Pereira, Andreas Hugo
Januzaj, Adnan
Johnstone, Max Oliver
Kehinde, Tosin Samuel
Kenyon, Jake Barry
Makela, Faustin
Martial, Anthony Joran
McIntosh-Buffonge, Darren Raekwon
Mctominay, Scott
Mitchell, Demetri Kareem
Moutha-Sebtaoui, Ilias
O’Connor, Lee Patrick
O’Hara, Kieran Michael
Olosunde, Matthew Olawale
Poole, Regan Leslie
Rashford, Marcus
Redmond, Devonte Vincent
Riley, Joe
Scott, Charlie Thomas
Shaw, Luke Paul Hoare
Spratt, Harry
Tanner, George
Tuanzebe, Axel
Warren, Tyrell Nathaniel
Whelan, Callum Tyler
Williams, Ro-Shaun Oman
Willock, Matthew
Wilson, James Antony
Still, it could all be changed in January.
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