Borussia Monchengladbach rule out swoop for Bastian Schweinsteiger

Borussia Monchengladbach can be scratched off the list of potential suitors for Bastian Schweinsteiger. The ex-Germany captain has endured a torrid second campaign at Manchester United and was banished for months by Jose Mourinho following his return from Euro 2016. He was finally recalled to first-team training in October and made his first senior appearance of the season with a late substitute's cameo in the EFL Cup quarter-final victory over West Ham United at Old Trafford.

"Bastian Schweinsteiger is a fantastic player, but he won't be ending his career with us," Gladbach sporting director Max Eberl informed reporters at a press conference held on Thursday (15 December).

Schweinsteiger has previously stated that United will be his last European club, with a potential move to the US expected to hold significant appeal. He reportedly met with Chicago Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic for dinner last month amid reports that the Eastern Conference strugglers had offered him a three-year deal worth $5.5m (£4.4m, €5.2m) annually.

FC Dallas president Dan Hunt also spoke of his admiration for the former Bayern Munich stalwart back in October, although he added the caveat that the Texan franchise only had space for one designated player and were hoping to sign a new striker. Commissioner Don Garber, meanwhile, commented that Major League Soccer would "welcome Bastian with open arms".

A winter switch to the MLS for Schweinsteiger was already considered by most as a foregone conclusion, although Mourinho now appears to have performed a U-turn on the player's future and expects him to remain at Old Trafford beyond the end of the January transfer window in preparation for an exceedingly busy second half of the campaign.

"I do," he was quoted as saying by FourFourTwo earlier this week. "Unless again, the player knocks on our door with a future that he wants to grab with both hands. We have Premier League, Europa League, then in the League Cup we have a two-legged semi and hopefully one more match in the final. The FA Cup is a lot of matches, so our number of players is not so big, even Schweinsteiger is back to the group which was exactly the intention because he is one more option for us."

Schweinsteiger, initially made to train either on his own or with the youth team, was written off as an asset in the club's accounts in September after being omitted from Mourinho's 27-man squad to contest the group stages of the Europa League. However, it is certainly feasible that he could be made available by the manager for the two-legged last-32 tie against Ligue 1 outfit AS Saint-Etienne in February.