Strengths and Weaknesses of Manchester United Signing Bastian Schweinsteiger
Manchester United have "reached an agreement" to sign Bastian Schweinsteiger, according to their official Twitter account.
This is a very exciting development for United fans, as it strengthens the squad in an area that needed attention. Adding another holding midfielder to the mix was a must for Louis van Gaal who saw his side suffer a serious drop in form when Michael Carrick was out injured last season.
Now that the German is United bound, let's take a look at some strengths and weaknesses.
Though there are an equal number of both listed here, it is pretty clear that he should be a fine signing for the Red Devils.
Weakness: Injury Record
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This is the one weakness that significantly counts against him. The rest are all offset by positives or mitigated against by his ability.
His recent injury history, though, is the one thing that makes this transfer seem like a kind of a gamble. In the last two seasons, he has missed 50 games through injury, per Transfermarkt.
That is a big number. It has not been the pattern of his career to miss so much game time, but it has clearly become a problem in the past couple of years. United will be banking on him and Carrick not being injured at the same time too often.
Strength: Leadership
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Schweinsteiger is a leader. If this were not already evident, he was made Germany captain once Philipp Lahm retired from international football.
Obvious, determined leadership is something United have lacked in the centre of midfield for a long time. Bringing in a player who was a key figure in World Cup and Champions League-winning dressing rooms is a huge step in the right direction.
Indeed, his leadership ability is something that will add to the balance of United's squad even if his injury problems persist. Young players will have another senior figure who has won everything to turn to for advice and guidance.
Weakness: Age
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The only way this transfer could have been better for United is if it had happened five years ago. He will turn 31 on August 1. As such, Schweinsteiger is probably slightly past his prime.
However, as we will come to later on, he is not a player who has relied on blistering pace, and assuming the injuries he has suffered do not become chronic, he could have many good years ahead of him yet. After all, if Bayern Munich had signed Paul Scholes when he was 31, they would have been getting a bargain.
Strength: Defensive Contribution
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Schweinsteiger is a player who contributes directly to attacking and defensive play, like all good holding midfielders should.
Even playing in a team as domestically dominant as Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich, he has averaged 1.7 tackles per league game for the past two seasons. The season before Guardiola arrived, that number was 2.8. He is an aggressive midfielder who is happy to go to ground when necessary.
With Ander Herrera and Marouane Fellaini also happy to get stuck in, United now have a more physically threatening midfield than they have had in some time.
Weakness: Relative Lack of Pace
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Schweinsteiger was never exactly a speed merchant, and at 30, he is not getting any quicker.
Fortunately, he reads the game superbly and thus manages to get himself into the right positions often enough that it is not a serious issue. His schooling under managers such as Van Gaal has also made him a master of quickening play by selecting the right pass, so his lack of pace should not be too much of a problem.
The one exception to that could be if he is caught out of position when a team counter-attacks. Hopefully additions elsewhere in the squad will ensure United are less vulnerable to that approach than they have been in the past couple of seasons.
Strength: Experience as a Winner
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Schweinsteiger knows what it takes to become a champion. It is something he has been time and again. He also, of course, knows what it takes to win things in a Van Gaal side, having been part of his Bundesliga-winning Bayern team of 2009/10.
Having a player who was key to his club's Champions League victory and his country's World Cup victory should provide an enormous boost to United's collective will to win. Not only has Schweinsteiger got a personal medal haul to rival almost anyone in the game, he was instrumental in his sides' triumphs on many occasions.
That kind of experience is invaluable to a squad with ambitions to win silverware.
Weakness: Inexperience at Adapting to a New Team
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This is more of a theoretical weakness than a definite one, but Schweinsteiger has been at Bayern Munich for his whole senior career. Moving clubs and to a new country will be a big deal for him.
Given he has played under the manager before, he at least knows what type of football he is signing up for. Also, having played extensively in European competition and earned more than a century of caps for Germany, he has plenty of experience playing against non-German teams.
However, his ability to settle into a new culture is as yet an unknown and must thus count as a potential stumbling block.
Strength: Passing
8 of 8Having started with the key weakness, we end with the key strength.
Bastian Schweinsteiger is a remarkable passer of the ball. In 2013/14, the first Guardiola season in Munich, he averaged 85 passes a game in the Bundesliga and completed 89.9 per cent of them. That is a fairly staggering statistic.
They were purposeful, too as he managed four assists from his average of a key pass per game. That second figure was up to 1.6 per league game on average last season. In last season's run to the Champions League semi-finals, he averaged 2.7 key passes per game and still kept his pass completion at 88 per cent.
As the above compilation shows, he has an eye for the unexpected pass, as well as an aptitude for injecting energy into proceedings with the right kind of forward ball.
The Old Trafford faithful seem certain to appreciate this wonderful facet of his game.
All advanced statistics per WhoScored.com.
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