Mourinho says Schweinsteiger staying at United

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – One-time outcast Bastian Schweinsteiger appears to be back in favour with Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho, who insisted Sunday the World Cup winner was staying at Old Trafford despite having yet to appear in the Premier League this season.

The 32-year-old former Bayern Munich lynchpin started his first game in over a year on Sunday and scored his first goal since November 2015 as they beat second-tier Wigan 4-0 in the FA Cup.

“He is staying,” said Mourinho of a player he had banished to train away from the first team earlier in the season.

“He is going on our Europa League list because we have opened spaces with (Memphis) Depay and (Morgan) Schneiderlin (leaving) and we don’t have many players,” the Portuguese coach explained.

“We don’t have many options in midfield. Ninety minutes today was probably too hard for him but now I think he is happy. With so many competitions and games, he will be an option.”

The roving midfielder joined United ahead of the 2015-2016 season under former coach Louis van Gaal and became the first German to play first-team football for the Red Devils.

After captaining Germany to the semi-finals at Euro 2016, Schweinsteiger then married Serbian tennis player Ana Ivanovic before finding himself frozen out at Old Trafford.

But Schweinsteiger has prompted Mourinho, who at one point sent him to play with the club’s Under-23s, to re-evaluate with Sunday’s performance a tonic of sorts for a player with 500 appearances for Bayern.