(Credit: Getty Images)
HARRISON — Bayern Munich manager Carlo Ancelotti dismissed the rumors going around the English press of Bastian Schweinsteiger making a return to the German club in a press conference at Red Bull Arena to preview his side’s International Champions Cup match with Real Madrid at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
“Schweinsteiger was a fantastic player for Bayern and a fantastic player for football in general but I don’t think it’s the time for him to come back to Munich,” Ancelotti said.
Schweinsteiger was reportedly told to empty his locker and was sent down to the reserves at Manchester United by Jose Mourinho on his 32nd birthday Monday, all but confirming he is out of the Portuguese manager’s plans for his first season at Old Trafford.
Ancelotti made it clear the decision is not his to make.
“I think this is the decision of (Manchester United), what he is doing now,” the former Real Madrid manager said. “I have nothing to say about this. It’s not my personal issue. The club take a decision, it is their own decision and I have nothing to say.”
Schweinsteiger returned to training from his honeymoon with wife Ana Ivanovic on Thursday but was not included in the 23 fit first-team players training under Mourinho and his staff, according to the Manchester Evening News.
Michael Carrick, Morgan Schneirderlin, Marouane Fellaini and Ander Herrera are ahead of him in the pecking order, and with Paul Pogba reportedly close to signing, Schweinsteiger is seen as excess in Manchester.
The midfielder retired from the German National Team last week. He started 21 times and made 10 substitute appearances last season, but only four came in the last four months of the campaign as he struggled with a knee injury. He scored one goal in the Premier League.
Ancelotti was asked his opinion on Schweinsteiger if he were to return to Munich. He responded philisophically, his eyebrow raised.
“In football, there is no if.”
Follow Brian Fonseca on Twitter @briannnnf for updates on both domestic and European football.
