Jose Mourinho has admitted he regrets the way he treated Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Former Germay international Schweinsteiger, who joined Chicago Fire this week, was exiled at Manchester United by Mourinho.
Schweinsteiger was made to train alone and with United's youth team players after Mourinho decided he the 32-year-old was not part of his plans.
But after Schweinsteiger left United for a new challenge in Major League Soccer in the US, Mourinho revealed his regret at the way he handled the mercurial midfielder.
“He is in the category of players I feel sorry for something that I did to him,” said Mourinho.
“I don't want to speak about him as a player, I don't want to speak about him as a player I would or would not buy.
“I want to speak about him as a professional, as a human being. It was the last thing I told him before he left – I was not right with you once, I have to be right with you now.
“So when he was asking me to let him leave, I had to say yes, you can leave because I did it once, I cannot do it twice.
“So I feel sorry for the first period with him, he knows that, I am happy that he knows, because I told him.
I will miss a good guy, a good professional, a very good influence in training.
“So I could not stop him to go, even though I know we have so many matches and probably would need him for a few matches or a few periods.
“But I had to let him go and now publicly wish him and his wife a very happy life in Chicago.”
Schweinsteiger, bought by former United boss
Louis van Gaal, made just four appearances for United this season before securing his move to Chicago.
Asked if he regretted his treatment of the player, Mourinho said: “I do, yeah. I would let him be in the squad. I knew in that moment we have too many players.
“If you remember, we had many players in this doubtful situation, we still had Morgan Schndeiderlin, Memphis Depay Andreas Pereira, Tyler Blackett and James Wilson, a huge squad in the beginning.
“But after knowing him as a professional and as a person, the way he was behaving and the way he was respecting my decisions as a manager, yes I regret, and no problem for me admitting it and he knows that because I told him.
“I always say the second season is a season when the manager knows everything about the players.
“What I knew about him was a season full of injuries, a season where he almost didn't play, a season where he was having treatment outside of the club, and I thought that was not right, the mentality was not right.
“He was the kind of player who I would not like to have in the club. In the second season I know everything that is going on.
“Now I am inside for 10 months and 10 months is a long time. The second season is where, from a managerial point of view, an easier season that the first."
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