Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho appears to regret selling Morgan Schneiderlin to Everton in January
Decision to sell Frenchman looks costly now the Red Devils have a central midfielder crisis for Premier League run-in
Sponsored by
MANCHESTER UNITED boss Jose Mourinho seems to regret selling Morgan Schneiderlin to Everton in January.
The decision to let the Frenchman go looks costly now the Red Devils have a central midfielder crisis for Premier League run-in.
Schneiderlin left United in a £22million move to Everton in January after a lack of first-time opportunities at Old Trafford.
And they also let veteran Bastian Schweinsteiger go to MLS side Chicago Fire last month as he was frozen out under the Portuguese boss.
But now United are left with only two specialist centre midfielders in Michael Carrick and Ander Herrera due to a series of unfortunate events.
Paul Pogba is injured with a muscle problem, while Timothy Fosu-Mensah, who can play defensive midfielder, was hurt during Tuesday's Manchester derby.
And Marouane Fellaini did what Marouane Fellaini does and inexplicably got himself sent off for a reckless headbutt on Sergio Aguero in midweek - with a three match ban to come.
United do not even have strength in youth, as young midfielder Sean Goss left in January to sign for Championship side QPR.
And the Special One has bemoaned Schneiderlin's choice to depart, leaving United in the lurch with a thin squad.
Speaking of the choice to let him leave for the Toffees, he said: "Our decision, our decision. To have lots of players without player is something that the players don't want.
most read in football
"We didn't tell Morgan, 'We want to sell you'. Morgan asked and said, 'Please sell me, I want to go and play every game.'
"So sometimes there is always this dilemma of keep a bigger squad, but then the players don't want to stay.
"Even the younger players, when they are not playing, they ask to leave, so it's very hard and we arrive in an extreme situation where, I think it must be unique in football, where we have two cruciate ligaments in the same match.
"In my career I had one in 17 years. One cruciate in 17 years. And now, against Anderlecht, I have two. In one match.
"We are very unlucky is the only thing we can say, and the other small injuries, the Pogba one, Valencia last week, are the injuries of fatigue, the accumulation of matches, which is normal. Smalling and Jones were with the English national team, training.
"So maybe it's a blessing, an opportunity to make the team stronger, maybe it's an opportunity to make them mentally stronger. Maybe it's a blessing, so let's see if they can comeback."