Bastian Schweinsteiger has revealed new details on his time at Manchester United and how Jose Mourinho froze him out at Old Trafford.
Speaking on The Overlap, the 2014 World Cup winner revealed he was stunned by the treatment he received from his former coach after returning to pre-season late.
Recalling his experience, he said: "It was 2016 and I was with the German national team, we went far in the competition (the European Championship) reaching the semi-finals, so I stepped in a little later (at Manchester United) and the team were in the US for a pre-season tour.
"When I arrived on the first day, I trained with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and thought it was great, a player who has the vision and is amazing to play with.
Jose Mourinho has already apologised to Bastian Schweinsteiger for the way he treated him at Man Utd
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"The next day, on my birthday, when I walked into Carrington, John Murtough was there and said that I wasn't allowed to walk into the dressing room, the coach had said so. No warning, nothing.
"I don't know (why he told me).
"Someone could have told me there (on my first day of training) or explained it to me in a normal way, but okay, I went to the youth dressing room and trained with the under 16s."
He continued: "I asked him who I was training with, and he said there was the under 16 team, so I went and trained with the under 16s.
"I asked him whether I could talk to the manager in the afternoon, so when I came back from training with the under 16s, where I trained so bad because I didn't know what was going on or it was a joke, I then had a meeting with (Mourinho) in the afternoon.
"He explained to me that he didn't see me happy here at United because when I had my injury, I did my rehab with German doctors, spending time in Germany.
"Of course, I came back to United and was in contact with doctors and watched the games - I had a conversation with Louis van Gaal when he was coach, and he said to come on the weekends to United and remain in contact with the doctors, they needed me fit and there was an FA Cup final which I almost played.
"That was our agreement and I kept to it.
"For me, I just wanted to get healthy and wanted to be able to play - I stuck to the agreement with Louis van Gaal but obviously the board thought a little differently about that."
While Schweinsteiger struggled under Mourinho, however, the 61-year-old does regret the way he handled the players situation.
In 2017, Schweinsteiger left United to join MLS outfit Chicago Fire.
Mourinho doesn't have many regrets about his career.
But, speaking shortly after the player left, he did admit he'd made mistakes with the way he treated Schweinsteiger.
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Bastian Schweinsteiger was frozen out by Jose Mourinho during his spell at Man Utd
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“He’s in the category of players that I feel sorry for something that I did to him," he admitted.
“I don’t want to speak about him as a player, I don’t want to speak as I buy or not to buy.
"I want to speak about him as a professional, as a human being.
“The last thing I told him before he left: ‘I was not right with you once, I have to be right with you now.’ So when he was asking me to let him leave I had to say ‘yes’ you can leave because I did it once, I cannot do it twice.
"So I feel sorry for the first period with him, he knows that.
Bastian Schweinsteiger won the FA Cup during his time at Man Utd
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"I am happy that he knows because I told him. I will miss a good guy, a good professional, a good influence in training – a very good influence.”
When asked if he regrets the way Schweinsteiger was treated, he added: "Yeah, I do."
In the end, Schweinsteiger's time at United failed to live up to the hype.
He arrived as a serial winner in 2015 hoping to win silverware aplenty.
But, an FA Cup triumph under Louis van Gaal aside, his stint in Manchester was largely forgettable.