Jose Mourinho Open To Memphis And Schneiderlin’s Exit

Jose Mourinho has said he will listen to offers for Memphis Depay and Morgan Schneiderlin in January, but insists one-time outcast Bastian Schweinsteiger is not certain to leave Manchester United next month.

Schneiderlin and Depay, signed at a combined cost over more than £50 million by former United boss Louis van Gaal in the summer of 2014, have been repeatedly overlooked by Mourinho in recent weeks, with both players omitted from the Europa League trip to Ukraine to face Zorya Luhansk before failing to make the substitutes’ bench for the subsequent Premier League game at home to Tottenham.

Neither player has started a league game for United under Mourinho and, with Everton manager Ronald Koeman keen to sign Schneiderlin and Depay, Mourinho did not rule out exits for the duo when asked directly about them at his weekly news conference.

“I am always open to listen to offers for every player,” Mourinho said. “But more than listen to offers, I am always ready to listen to the players themselves.

“So any player who knocks on my door and is not happy and wants to move, when the offers are correct, I will never stop a player from leaving, even if it is to a rival.

“When Juan Mata left Chelsea to come to Manchester United, no problem at all. In my mentality, no problem at all. I am always open.”

Schweinsteiger, a £5m signing from Bayern Munich in July 2015, made a surprise return to the fold with a substitute appearance against West Ham in the EFL Cup last month after being told he had no future at Old Trafford by Mourinho.

And although the German has since failed to make any of United’s matchday squads, Mourinho said he is in no rush to offload the 32-year-old next month.

“I do [expect him to stay],” Mourinho said. “Unless again, the player knocks on our door with a future that he wants to grab with both hands.

“Then I never stop players doing what they want if, I repeat if, the conditions are right for the club.

“What I can say is that I am happy with the squad I have. I would like my squad to be my squad until the end of the season and I am not going to any player to say you are going to leave’ because I am not happy, because I don’t want to have him.

“I am happy with the players I have, even with players that are not having many opportunities to play. From my point of view I am happy to keep everyone and everyone will have a chance, sometimes an unexpected chance.

“Sometimes the chance is there, you get it like Phil Jones. You have Bailly out, Smalling out, everybody out and comes the game against Swansea and Jones is in and he is still there.

“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.”