Bastian Schweinsteiger has been named in Manchester United's Premier League squad.
The German has not featured under Jose Mourinho and had been told he can leave Old Trafford.
But a move failed to materialise for the 31-year-old, who may now get a second chance under Mourinho - reports Manchester Evening News.
Also
listed in United's squad is Sadiq El-Fitouri. The 21-year-old was
signed from Salford City - owned by former United players Gary Neville,
Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes - in January 2015
and has been a regular in Warren Joyce's reserve team.
He is yet to make a senior appearance but signed a new one-year deal in the summer.
New signings Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Eric Bailly, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and
Paul Pogba are also in the squad while the Premier League have confirmed
Pogba counts as a 'homegrown' player.
Marcus Rashford and
Timothy Fosu-Mensah are both included on the list of Under-21 players
due to their age along with academy arrivals Tahith Chong, Nishan
Burkart and Joshua Bohui.
Manchester United squad list in full
Eric Bailly
Daley Blind
Michael Carrick
Matteo Darmian
David De Gea
Memphis Depay
Sadik El-Fitouri
Marouane Fellaini
Ander Herrera
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Sam Johnstone
Phil Jones
Jesse Lingard
Juan Mata
Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Paul Pogba
Marcos Rojo
Sergio Romero
Wayne Rooney
Morgan Schneiderlin
Bastian Schweinsteiger
Chris Smalling
Antonio Valencia
Ashley Young
Ibrahimovic, on his home debut in the English top flight, struck with
a 36th-minute header and a second-half penalty to ensure Mourinho’s
first match in charge at Old Trafford resulted in victory.
United, for whom Paul Pogba made his first start since rejoining the club from Juventus, gave a commanding performance with the Frenchman, Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney all playing significant roles.
Pogba began the match brightly, testing Fraser Forster
after 13 minutes with a curling 20-yard strike from the left edge of
the area, shortly after Southampton had suffered the costly loss of
Oriel Romeu, their defensive midfielder, to a muscular injury.
The Saints did create chances of their own in the first half with Nathan Redmond turning Eric Bailly and crossing just beyond the unmarked Dusan Tadic on 18 minutes and Shane Long
threatening twice, firstly with a shot on the turn on 26 minutes that
rippled the side-netting, and then with a scuffed effort with his left
foot which he perhaps took too early after being put through by Tadic.
But as the half wore on Mourinho’s men began to assume control. A
lovely move instigated by a clipped pass from Pogba on the left brought a
clever flick from Juan Mata and an audacious acrobatic effort by Ibrahimovic which flew just wide.
The Swede was merely setting his sights, and would be more economical
next time around. United took the lead when Rooney chased into the
right corner unchecked to pick up an Antonio Valencia
pass, and, showing great speed of thought, dispatched a deep cross
which Ibrahimovic met, ahead of Jose Fonte, with a thumping header
The travelling supporters thought they were back in it when Tadic
scored with a header of his own four minutes after the interval but the
attempt was ruled out for offside, and within two minutes the visitors
were two down.
Jordi Clasie, on for the injured Romeu, tripped Luke Shaw as the full-back raced into the area, and Ibrahimovic did the rest from the spot.
United were in assertive mood and Southampton, despite enjoying a
good deal of possession, struggling to contend with the power and
attacking verve of their hosts, epitomised by the commanding Pogba.
Anthony Martial had to be denied on three occasions by Forster, Virgil van Dijk and then Cedric Soares, while Pogba cleared the bar with a towering header as Mourinho’s men threatened to run riot.
As it was there would be no more goals but with Ibrahimovic three
goals to the good for the fledgling season and Mourinho boasting two
wins out of two already, Man Utd’s statement of intent had been made
abundantly clear.
Paul Pogba can fulfil his dream of
becoming the world’s best player by returning to his former club
Manchester United, his manager-in-waiting Jose Mourinho declared on
Sunday.
Pogba, 23, is close to returning to Old
Trafford for a reported world-record fee of 89 million pounds ($116.4
million, 105 million euros) after United and Juventus confirmed he was
due to undergo a medical.
The France midfielder makes no secret of
his desire to usurp Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the world’s
foremost player and Mourinho believes he will achieve that ambition at
United.
“I think United is the perfect club to
bring him to the level that he wants to be,” Mourinho said after United
beat Leicester City 2-1 at Wembley in the season-opening Community
Shield.
“The Premier League is the perfect
habitat for that. If you want to be the best player in the world, I
think if you go to Barcelona or to Real Madrid, you are in trouble.
“Because I don’t think the other two big guys will let you develop to that level.
“Here he has the conditions to develop
in the most seen worldwide championship, which is absolutely incredible,
with a team that wants to bring Man United to the top again.
“So we have everything to give him and
we know the reasons why he wants to come to us. Money he will get from
any big club. That’s not the point.
“He comes because he knows the club,
knows the city, knows many of the players. He wants to be an important
part of the Man United project. So hopefully everything goes well and he
comes into our team.”
Mourinho had earlier told BT Sport: “It’s amazing that such a good player is with us. Finally we have him.”
The transfer saga took a huge step
forward when Juventus announced they had granted permission for Pogba to
undergo a medical at United, the club he left four years ago.
– ‘Talk very soon’ –
United confirmed the news with a short
statement on their club website saying the medical would enable Pogba to
“finalise his transfer from Juventus to Manchester United”.
Pogba, who was part of the France side
that lost to Portugal in the Euro 2016 final last month, tweeted
enigmatically: “When too many people talk nobody understands — talk very
soon.”
Early signs that a deal was imminent
came when Pogba did not travel with the Juventus squad to London for
their 3-2 friendly win over West Ham United on Sunday.
Media reports said he had already arrived in Manchester.
Pogba, who has won four Serie A titles
with Juventus and reached the 2015 Champions League final, has been
courted assiduously by United, who received just 1.5 million pounds when
he left in 2012.
They faced reported competition from
European champions Real Madrid, amid speculation that Pogba would have
preferred to link up with his compatriot Zinedine Zidane at the
Bernabeu.
But Madrid, who have paid huge money for
stars like Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo in recent years, did not
pursue the player, leaving Pogba with a choice between moving to United
or remaining with Juventus.
A reported initial 86 million pounds bid was rejected by Juventus.
Pogba’s arrival will secure the four
signings Mourinho had set his sights on when he replaced Louis van Gaal
at the end of last season.
Pogba will join young Ivorian defender
Eric Bailly, Armenian international Henrikh Mkhitaryan and veteran
Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic in arriving at Old Trafford this
summer.
