Schweinsteiger picked in Man Utd squad, Liverpool keep Sakho

Bastian Schweinsteiger has been named in Jose Mourinho's Premier League squad after the club failed to offload the German World Cup winner in the transfer window.

The Old Trafford boss had made it clear that the veteran midfielder, who played his final match for Germany on Wednesday night, was not part of his plans prompting fears that he would spend the season collecting his mammoth salary without ever playing for United.

"Schweinsteiger has not featured in any matches under the Portuguese manager and Mourinho warned him there is no room in his preferred 23-man squad," notes the Daily Mail.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

However, Mourinho has found room for him in his 25-man squad for the coming campaign, even though he does not qualify as "home-grown".

With the transfer window now closed, clubs have submitted their squads for the rest of the year. Under Premier League rules the senior squad can contain only 25 players and a certain number of them must count as home-grown – that means players of any age or nationality who were signed to an English or Welsh club for three seasons before they turned 21.

Only 17 non home-grown players are allowed at each club and Schweinsteiger will count towards that number at United.

However, managers are able to bolster their options by naming any number of under-21 players. United have 49 such players listed on their books, including first-team regulars Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Timothy Fosu-Mensah.

The number of young players means that Mourinho has also been able to name unheard of Libyan defender Sadik El-Fitouri, who was recommended to United by Salford City in his first team squad.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has named only 20 players in his senior squad, which will allow him to buy players in January. However, there are an astonishing 67 under-21 and academy players on the club's books. Their number include Kelechi Iheanacho and £32m summer signing Leroy Sane.

However, Pep Guardiola once again revealed his ruthless streak when he unveiled his smaller Champions League squad, with Yaya Toure an eye-catching omission from the 21 players selected for the European campaign.

Elsewhere, Liverpool have found room for unwanted defender Mamadou Sakho in their Premier League squad after failing to offload him in the transfer window.

Liverpool have found room for Mamadou Sakho in their squad after failing to offload him in the transfer window.