Morgan Schneiderlin makes admission over Man Utd exit

Former Manchester United midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin has admitted that he may have left the club too early after being frozen out under Jose Mourinho.

Schneiderlin moved to Old Trafford in July 2015 having been signed by then boss Louis van Gaal, but his United career fizzled out and he was eventually sold to Everton for an initial £20m in January 2017.

Things went downhill for the Frenchman upon the instillation of Mourinho, who only gave him 14 minutes of Premier League action in the first half of the 2016/17 campaign.

However, speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Schneiderlin felt that he could have perhaps offered more to United in his time there.

“I wanted to do more and I had the capacity to do more,” the 28-year-old said.  “Maybe I jumped out of the boat too quickly when I didn’t play for three months.

“When I look at other players having a great career at Manchester United, they all had a spell of four or five months when they didn’t play.”

Schneiderlin has been criticised by many for his style of play after struggling to recapture his best form, but the midfielder followed up his earlier comments by offering a stern defence of that.

“If you are in midfield, you are 1-0 down and your team has run after the ball for a minute and I try a long pass and miss it, people might clap because it is an attacking move, but my team-mates might have to for another two minutes to get the ball back,” Schneiderlin said.

“If we are winning 1-0 and I make a short pass that allows the team to breathe, people think it is clever. Some people say I pass square but I don’t see it.

“Look at [Sergio] Busquets at Barcelona. I don’t compare myself to him but tell me the passes he does that I don’t? Because they win games, everyone says he’s the cleverest midfielder in football.

“Football is about perception. You can play the same game, but it will be analysed differently depending on whether you have won or lost.”

United head into Sunday’s Premier League clash with Norwich City having ended their worst away run since 1989 with a 1-0 win away to Partizan Belgrade on Thursday.

Read more: Neville warns Man Utd about finding Norwich harder than Liverpool