Chicago Fire midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger is one of the most accomplished footballers in world history. He’s a national hero in his native Germany, due to this accomplishments for both club and country.
Currently in Chicago, he has been utilized at several different positions, as he’s often the most talented player on the pitch. Before moving to Manchester United, he was one of the greatest players in Bayern Munich’s storied history. So why didn’t it work out at United?
Why was he relegated by Jose Mourinho, quite cruelly we might add, to training with the U21s- until the Fire gave him a lifeline in the March of 2017?
Former United boss Louis van Gaal, who signed Basti from Bayern, said Schweinsteiger was held back because he was hurt.
“I brought Schweinsteiger in because we needed a captain on the pitch,” the recently retired Van Gaal is quoted in the Manchester Evening News.
“He didn’t do it. He was injured. He had an excuse.”
Van Gaal also weighed on in why two other big name, big money players busted at Old Trafford- Radamel Falcao and Angel Di Maria. Regarding the latter, now with Paris Saint-Germain, he recently admitted publicly that he had an issue with Van Gaal when he was at United.
“Di Maria says it was my problem,” stated LVG.
“I played him in every attacking position. You can check that. He never convinced me in any of those positions. He could not deal with the continuous pressure on the ball in the Premier League. That was his problem.”
Regarding the Colombian Falcao, the Dutchman said the following:
“I wanted a first-class striker. I don’t want to go through all the names but when you can’t have the first or second choice, you have to be happy with the fourth or fifth, so Falcao came into the picture but we knew in advance he was injured.”
“That is why I said we should take him on loan.”
Schweinsteiger and the Fire are off to a rough start this season. They have taken just one point from their first three matches, battling Orlando City to a 1-1 draw in the home opener. The Fire have lost their other two matches, 4-2 at the Seattle Sounders and 2-1 at the L.A. Galaxy.
They take on the New York Red Bulls at home on Saturday.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.