This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Speaking to Sky Sports, former Manchester United midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin has opened up on his exit from the club.
What did he say?
The Frenchman joined the Red Devils from fellow Premier League side Southampton, but struggled to nail down a consistent position in the first-team – in his time at Old Trafford, the 29-year-old made just 47 appearances across all competitions in total.
Having since made the move to Merseyside to join Everton in a £24m deal back in January 2017, Schneiderlin has featured a bit more regularly under Marco Silva this season, making eight appearances.
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Now, the former Saints man has opened up on his failed career at United, and admitted he perhaps should have stayed and fought for his place.
He said (as quoted by The Manchester Evening News): “I had a week before the season started (after EURO 2016) so I didn’t have a proper pre-season. Mourinho said to me he likes me as a footballer but he knows some players in my position more because he had a pre-season with them. I was a bit too impatient when I wanted to leave.
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“Maybe I should have said to myself, keep working and it will come. For example, Ander Herrera, under van Gaal he doesn’t play for four months, but he kept passionate and he played under Mourinho. Then he gets his move to Paris-Saint Germain so sometimes in football you need to keep passion.”
Commitment
When Schneiderlin first made the move to Old Trafford for £25m, it felt like United were getting one of the top holding midfielders in the Premier League at the time. As per Whoscored, the Frenchman averaged an impressive 3.7 tackles and 2.6 interceptions per game in his final league season at St Mary’s. But in Manchester, he failed to hit the ground running, and never really looked like establishing himself as a key presence in the team.
As he alludes to, perhaps he should have taken a leaf out of Herrera’s book and refused to take no for an answer and just showed his dedication and commitment to the cause by seizing any opportunities he was given. Even still, there may not be too many tears of regret on the part of the Red Devils that Schneiderlin is no longer with them.
