Bastian Schweinsteiger's future at Bayern Munich is still uncertain

Posted Thursday, July 09, 2015 by ESPN

It's not easy being Bastian Schweinsteiger these days: everywhere he turns, he receives unsolicited advice.

The latest football expert to offer his opinion on the Germany captain's club future is Felix Magath. The former Bayern Munich coach said in his column for ran.de on Wednesday that Schweinsteiger should move to Manchester United to "develop his personality" and find "a different environment and new impulse" ahead of Euro 2016.

Magath added that "uncertainty is the worst for everyone, players and coach" in reference to the player's current situation. The 30-year-old is contracted until July 2016 but Bayern have told him it's down to him whether he stays or not. As of yet, there has been no offer to renew his contract.

It should be remembered at this point that Magath had asked Schweinsteiger, then already a member of the national team, "Who are you?" when he moved to Bayern as manager in 2004. Maybe his knowledge of the player and his circumstances isn't that extensive. Others, like Lothar Matthäus ("Schweinsteiger needs a coach who backs him in the autumn of his career. If he has an offer of a European top team, I'd tell him to move") have also chipped in from afar.

The thick-skinned Schweinsteiger won't be swayed by these recommendations, but there are former players with whom he does consult. The problem is that they are as conflicted as he himself seems to be over the best course of action going forward. Whereas one ex-Bayern midfielder has privately encouraged him to leave the German champions for lack of a starting place guarantee by Pep Guardiola, another one has cautioned him strongly against making such a drastic change in the year leading up to his first-ever competition as Germany's skipper.

Uncertainty about his exact position in the Bayern hierarchy is still preferable to signing for Manchester United, a club still somewhat in transition in a league without winter breaks, with tougher tackling, less structured midfield play and medical care that doesn't enjoy the best of reputation among continental players; that's how that "better the Reds you know" argument goes.

In addition, Louis van Gaal's high valuation of the man he made into one of the world's best central midfielders during his stint at Bayern five years ago has so far not quite been matched by Man United's effort to see this move through.

In a number of meetings with the Bundesliga club, they have pushed repeatedly for Thomas Muller's signature, but didn't make a concrete offer for his teammate. It's conceivable, however, that they're simply waiting for a definitive answer from the player before a possible deal can be advanced. There are plenty of rumours swirling around but you won't find anyone in Munich professing to actually know what Schweinsteiger is thinking because he himself seems caught in two minds.

On Saturday, Schweinsteiger and Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge will come together for a clear-the-air-meeting at Sabener Strasse. Each side will wait for the other side to move first. Schweinsteiger, Bayern calculates, could well tell them he wants to leave in light of one last big, juicy contract abroad. He might also respond emotionally if the club don't profess their intention to keep him beyond next summer. Bayern, Schweinsteiger will think, could well promise a compromise by which the existing contract is renewed automatically if he plays a certain number of games in the coming season.

The third option, seen as the most realistic one by a person familiar with the situation, is both sides folding their hands and deciding to do nothing until his contract runs its course after next summer's tournament in France. That outcome would allow both sides to keep face -- Bayern don't want be seen as booting out a bonafide terrace legend after 13 years of service, while Schweinsteiger could get a shot of achieving a historic fourth championship in a row and second Champions League before heading off into the sunset as a free agent.

Whether Pep Guardiola would really be that happy with that resolution is a different story. The Catalan has far too many central midfielders at his disposal now that the talented Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has returned from a loan spell at Augsburg and David Alaba and Javier Martínez are back in contention for places in the middle of the park, too. An unhappy Schweinsteiger on the bench and dressing room factions along German-Spanish divisions would not help in his quest to win the European Cup at the third time of asking. Something will have to give, very soon.

In three days, we'll know more about Schweinsteiger's imminent future and quite probably a few things beside that. Bayern's interest in Angel Di Maria has been rekindled in recent days; there's a feeling in Munich that Van Gaal is rather less insistent that the player will not be sold than United's CEO, Ed Woodward. In addition, it is true that Mario Gotze's name has been mentioned as a theoretical makeweight, albeit only from the German side.