Jose Mourinho is not known for admitting his regrets.
But the Manchester United boss has admitted he regrets the way he treated now former United midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger.
The German midfielder was barely featured under Mourinho at United, and at one point was completely frozen out of the team, and trained with the reserves.
The world cup winner has now departed Old Trafford, moving to the MLS to turn out for Chicago Fire, and his former boss feels that the German falls under a category of players he feels “sorry” for something he had done towards them.
He’s in the category of players that I feel sorry for something that I did to him,” Mourinho said.
“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. 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.
“I could not stop him to go even knowing that until the end of the season we have so many matches and we would probably need him for a few matches or a few periods.
“I had to let him go and now publicly wish him and his wife a very happy life in Chicago.”
Asked if he regrets the way he treated him, Mourinho said: “Yeah, I do.”
