Former German international captain and World Cup winner Bastian Schweinsteiger unsurprisingly had nothing but positive feelings about Manchester United following his move to Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire according to the American club’s manager. Nelson Rodriguez is clearly delighted to have secured the classy midfielder after being linked with him for some time and as the Express reported the Chicago Fire boss had the following to say about his acquisition:

“He is a gentleman and a sportsman,”

“Bastian has had nothing but good things to say about his experience at United and his relationship with his team-mates and the coaching staff.

“He clearly has great affection for the fans as well.

“Knowing the competitor he is but not wishing to speak for him, I have no doubt he should have played more and would have wanted to play more.

“But he didn’t speak of frustration.”

Despite being banished to training with the U23 team for the early part of the season Schweinsteiger remained the consummate professional and kept his head down, training hard and doing all the things asked of him. This conduct clearly endeared him to Jose Mourinho who rewarded teh German by bringing him back into the first team squad and using him in 4 Cup games. Each time Schweinsteiger played for the Red-Devils he was met with an extraordinary welcome by the United fans who clearly loved the player and when he scored for United, bagging their 4th goal in the 4-0 FA Cup win over Wigan Athletic on January 29th the crowd went beserk arguably cheering as loudly for the goal as for any goal during the season.

Schweinsteiger made a total of 35 appearances for Manchester United (only 4 of which came this campaign under Jose Mourinho) and he scored 2 goals and added 3 assists. He will leave for the USA with the best wishes of all at Old Trafford and definitely as a fan favourite and almost certainly the most popular player ever who played so few games for the club.