Former Arsenal forward Lukas Podolski has spoken in the past about the situation faced by Manchester United midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Despite being acknowledged as one of the best midfielders in the world, he has been frozen out of the first team by manager José Mourinho immediately upon his arrival at Old Trafford. The two parties have not exactly revealed the reason for the animosity. As one of the top earners at United, Mourinho was expecting to sell Schweinsteiger in order to free up funds for new players. After having arrived at Old Trafford only a year ago, Schweinsteiger seems to have decided against the move.

Mourinho has stuck to his plan of not having Schweinsteiger in the squad, and the player has been training on for the last couple of months. Even though it is highly anticipated that a move will eventually happen in the January transfer window, there have been calls for the player to be included in the first-team.

The recent run of poor form certainly has not helped the Mourinho in this regard. Podolski watched Manchester United get ripped apart by Chelsea in a 4-0 win for the blues. He used the occasion to highlight the importance of having a player like Schweinsteiger in the team.

A serial winner of major trophies, Schweinsteiger has won the Bundesliga, Champions League, and the World Cup in his time with Bayern Munich and the German national team. Against Chelsea, Mourinho opted for a midfield containing Marouane Fellaini, Ander Herrera, and Paul Pogba. The three players did not gel enough to make a difference against a well settled Chelsea team. Aside from Schweinsteiger, Mourinho has also been ignoring players like Michael Carrick and Morgan Schneiderlin. It is highly likely that Podolski’s calls for Schweinsteiger to be considered will fall on deaf ears once again.