Bastian Schweinsteiger has cleared out his first-team locker at Manchester United and moved to the reserve dressing room, according to Daily Mail.
The central midfielder, who turned 32 on Monday, trained with the Under 21s last week alongside eight others and is free to find another club.
Those developments were not wholly unexpected given Schweinsteiger’s difficult debut campaign in English football, but his spell at Old Trafford became even more ignominious when Jose Mourinho told him to take up permanent residence with the kids.
The 32-year-old struggled with form and fitness under Louis van Gaal and it is understood senior players were disappointed he chose not to watch matches while injured.
Mourinho wants freshness in his midfield and as such cannot see the German featuring this year, particularly with the impending arrival of Paul Pogba from Juventus.
That all means Schweinsteiger has now moved his belongings down the corridor between dressing rooms at Carrington.
The World Cup winner – colossal in the 2014 final and who played a role at this year’s European Championship – now faces an anxious wait over the next month to see if any suitors will take on his significant wages.
United might be forced to subsidise any financial package if they are desperate to release him, with AC Milan and Inter credited with interest.
The veteran has two seasons remaining on his contract and faces the prospect of no competitive action should he not seal a switch elsewhere.
The chairman of Schweinsteiger’s former club, Bayern Munich, has quashed suggestions he could return to the Bundesliga.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said: ‘I am 100 per cent convinced that Schweinsteiger will not return to Germany. I can see him staying at Manchester United and try to achieve their goals under a new coach.
‘Maybe he could surprise Mourinho. Either way, Bastian has had an amazing career. Nothing can change that.’
COMMENTS