Jose: Human decision to bring Bastian back for Utd

JOSE Mourinho has ended Bastian Schweinsteiger’s exile from the Manchester United first team as it was the right thing to do on both a human and professional level.

It had l ooked like the 32-year-old midfielder would never play for United again having been frozen out by the Portuguese after succeeding Louis van Gaal.

Schweinsteiger’s stock plummeted so far that United even had to write him off as an asset in the club accounts given he was “no longer considered to be a member of the first-team playing squad”.

It was, therefore, quite a surprise to see the former Germany captain training with the first team on Monday, featuring prominently in a series of images shared by the club.

The decision has been widely welcomed, with Mourinho highlighting squad preparation as key as well as the chance for Schweinsteiger to build fitness should he decide to depart.

“Schweinsteiger is back,” Mourinho said. “It’s a decision based on the fact we are in a period in the season where it’s really difficult to train with everybody together.

“Many times we go to the academy to bring some young boys to have a group with the perfect numbers to train.

“This is happening now match after match, week after week. For example, tomorrow the players who played here in Turkey will not train with the main group.

“Looking at Bastian and the way he was working professionally every day with a fitness coach, we think it’s a human decision, it’s a professional decision to bring him back to the team.

“He will be much better prepared, he will be in much better conditions. In case his future decision is to leave the club, he will be prepared to go direct to competition.

“If he stays with us, he becomes one more option. In this moment we have no problems in midfield like we do in defence but if we do he is one more option for us.

“So it’s a human decision based on the training numbers and the training methods but it’s also a decision that can be positive for the group. A good decision for us, a good decision for him.”

The United midfield looks bloated in terms of options right now but the same cannot be said for the backline.

A foot complaint has kept Chris Smalling out of the Europa League clash with Fenerbahce tonight, meaning he joins Eric Bailly and Antonio Valencia on the sidelines.

The former faces two months out and the latter a reported six weeks.

Such paucity of defensive options means Phil Jones has been rushed back into the fold having just recovered from a knee issue.