Friday night brought the Manchester United debut of Bastian Schweinsteiger, the first German in club history. He started the second half of United’s 1-nil defeat of Club America in Seattle, as Manager Louis van Gaal went with two starting XIs; one for each half. Preseason exhibition tours such as these mean a chance to see bench players who rarely ever get playing time.
It also means an opportunity for the younger players to get more time on the pitch. At age 31, Schweinsteiger, the German National Team captain, is one of the club’s elder statesmen.
As United continue their summer tour, he spoke about the younger Red Devils. He was quite impressed; especially so by Memphis Depay, who was just signed to the club in May.
“I enjoyed it a lot because to watch young players, how they are and how they played with [Andreas] Pereira, Jesse [Lingard] and [James] Wilson. They are all very good players.”
“I have seen a lot of young players in my career and I have to say that these young players are very, very good.”
“If they are doing well in the future then Manchester United could be happy.”
Schweinsteiger on Depay, via the club’s official website.
“Memphis is an unbelievable talent and he has so much quality and I am sure we will have a lot of fun with him on the pitch,” he told the club’s official website.”
The game’s only goal came from Morgan Schneiderlin, on a beautiful header five minutes in. (Here’s the video) “Basti” also discussed Schneiderlin, as well as Matteo Darmian. Which then rounds out the four new players brought over thus far this summer; all of which made their debut Friday night.
“Matteo is a typical Italian but I love that! You can see that he is tactical, he is very good and he is so fast,” Schweinsteiger said.
“I think Schneiderlin was very good and he is a very good player. If you see the goal, he did it well with no foul and a nice header.”
“I think he is a really good player and, also, for me, what is more important, is that he is a good boy.”
Here’s the TV info and time for United’s next preseason game:
Manchester United vs. San Jose Earthquakes, Tuesday, July 21 (11:00 PM ET), FOX Sports 2;
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