Bastian Schweinsteiger exclusive: “With a bit more trust, Louis van Gaal would have changed more at Manchester United – the club lost a lot of years because of that”
The former Red Devils midfielder tells FFT why the club missed an opportunity to modernise much earlier – and it cost them
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s arrival at Manchester United has signalled the start of big changes at the club – but Bastian Schweinsteiger thinks they lost several years by not placing more trust in former boss Louis van Gaal.
Schweinsteiger joined the club during Van Gaal’s reign at Old Trafford, having previously worked with the Dutchman at Bayern Munich, where he was thoroughly impressed by his methods, on and off the field.
The midfielder credits Van Gaal with laying the foundations that led to Bayern winning the Champions League in 2013.
“I learned a lot about tactics and discipline – we still say in Munich he was the one who started to build the fundamental basics of football at Bayern Munich, he changed things with his way of playing,” Schweinsteiger said, in an exclusive interview for the latest issue of FourFourTwo magazine.
In the German’s first season at Manchester United, in 2015-16, he felt the club even had a chance to win the Premier League, only for Leicester to win it instead.
“Unfortunately I got injured in a period when we were pretty much first in the league, together with Leicester,” he said. “That was a huge chance to win the Premier League. But until January we did very well.”
Jose Mourinho and Bastian Schweinsteiger (Image credit: Getty Images)
Schweinsteiger was later frozen out of the first team at Manchester United when Jose Mourinho replaced Van Gaal as boss, suspecting that his decision to travel back to Germany to have medical treatment ahead of Euro 2016 may not have gone down well with some people at the club – despite having permission from Van Gaal to do it at the time.
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But he stressed that he still has huge affection and respect for Manchester United, even if in some areas, things were a little different to what he was used to in Germany.
“I could feel the size of Manchester United, even if you cannot compare it with Munich,” he said. “The medical department in Munich was fantastic: they had a doctor who was also the doctor for the national team.
“But playing at Old Trafford was amazing, as was playing with people like Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick, Ashley Young – I liked to sit with them, they were fun to talk to.
“I think Louis van Gaal wanted to change more at the club, and with a bit more trust, he would have done that earlier. When you look back, I think Manchester United lost many years because of that.”
Chris joined FourFourTwo in 2015 and has reported from more than 20 countries, in places as varied as Ivory Coast and the Arctic Circle. He's interviewed Pele, Zlatan and Santa Claus (it's a long story), as well as covering the World Cup, AFCON and the Clasico. He previously spent 10 years as a newspaper journalist, and completed the 92 in 2017.
