Why Bayern Munich Should Let Bastian Schweinsteiger Leave for Manchester United

This week’s rumour mill has spat out an interesting transfer story in the form of Bayern Munich star Bastian Schweinsteiger supposedly now a target for Premier League giants Manchester United.

According to German magazine Kicker (h/t Daily Express), the German international has been sounded out as a possible option for Louis van Gaal’s side following the news that his contract expires next summer.

Yet rather than dwelling on the likelihood of such a move, it may be worth turning such a scenario on its head. Should Pep Guardiola's side receive a decent offer from Man United this summer, wouldn’t it be worth cashing in?

The main problem with Schweinsteiger and his role at Bayern right now is quite simply his age. The German international will be 31 years old by the time the new Bundesliga campaign rolls around, making him one of the older, senior members of a squad that already looks slightly dated.

Although 30 isn’t exactly over the hill or indeed anywhere near a point in which the German international must begin considering retirement, there is more to Schweinsteiger’s situation than his simple date of birth.

For a start, the Bayern midfielder is now the captain of the German national team following Philipp Lahm’s retirement after the World Cup victory last summer. This means that after a gruelling summer in Brazil last year, Schweinsteiger will be back in France next year doing the exact same for Joachim Low’s side.

Considering Bayern play at least 50 games each season as it is, the very notion of the midfielder playing for both Germany and his club to anything like full capacity simply isn’t realistic or indeed ideal for the club.

Jon Super/Associated Press

Lahm—just a year older than his Bayern and German colleague—made the appropriate decision to commit to Bayern for the last few years of his career, but if Schweinsteiger isn’t willing to do that, then he may well be worth pushing aside or dropping down the club’s list of priorities.

The 30-year-old’s injury problems are also worth considering, should a healthy bid come in for his services. This season alone has seen Schweinsteiger miss 22 games for Guardiola’s side, following a full summer campaign with the national team.

Last season the central midfielder missed 16 games, and the two years before that he missed, again, 16 games throughout the campaign. Whether Bayern fans like it or not, the concept of Schweinsteiger playing out an entire season for the Bavarian club is all but impossible now.

It was this semi-fit state that we found Schweinsteiger in over the course of the two legs against Barcelona, alongside a gravely ageing Xabi Alonso and a similarly unfit or out-of-position Lahm in the middle of the park.

Alongside the relative, youthful exuberance of Neymar and Ivan Rakitic, Bayern looked slow, sloppy and— perhaps most worryingly—old. Guardiola’s side did many things wrong over the course of the 180 minutes against the Spanish giants, but nothing would have been more worrying than the lethargic nature of his ageing talent.

This is perhaps where Bayern need to make a real effort in the transfer market this summer.

If Guardiola is hoping to claim the European Cup in his final season at the club—assuming he leaves after his contract expires in 2016—a real injection of youth and talent is needed in the middle of the park.

Thiago Alcantara and Sebastian Rode surely offer themselves as some younger alternatives, but fans are growing wary of the former’s constant injuries and the latter’s inability to demand a spot in Guardiola’s side.

Investment in a box-to-box midfielder like Arturo Vidal or Ilkay Gundogan may well be needed this summer, and if Bayern can cash in on this long-serving star, then it may just offer the best possible outcome for the club next season.

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