While the position that Bastian Schweinsteiger finds himself in at Manchester United does not cover Jose Mourinho in glory, calls for a member of the world players' union – FIFPro – to send the Portuguese manager to prison is bordering on absurdity.
Schweinsteiger has been reportedly asked to train the reserve squad after Mourinho decided the former Germany international would not be in his plans for the new season. According to reports from the UK, Schweinsteiger has also seen his locker from the first team moved t the junior team's room, leading to criticism over the player's treatment from several corners.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the president of the Bayern Munich, who sold Schweinsteiger to Manchester United last summer when Louis Van Gaal was the English Premier League club's manager, lambasted Mourinho, while saying such treatment will stop players in the future from moving to Old Trafford.
"I could hardly believe it," Rummenigge told the Bild. "One or two players are going to think long and hard in future about whether they want to go to such a club. Nothing like that has ever happened at Bayern Munich."
Former Bayern Munich manager Ottmar Hitzfeld, the man to give Schweinsteiger his senior team debut, also hit out at Mourinho's treatment of the player at Manchester United.
"It's a lack of respect for a worthy player," Hitzfeld told Redaktions Network Deutschland. "It's a method which is strange to me. Schweinsteiger is a key player, a world champion, a personality, while at the same time he has an exceptional attitude."
However, those criticisms are nothing compared to what Dejan Stefanovic, a member of FIFPro and a lawyer from Slovenia, had to say.
"It's clear bullying," Stefanovic told BBC World. "In Slovenia, we would have indicted Mourinho and asked for the highest penalty – three years in prison.
"This is clearly meant to discourage Bastian. Mourinho is setting a bad example. I would take it to the ordinary court. In our case, the penal code is quite clear. If there is bullying and harassment, there's a prison sanction, a maximum of three years in prison.
"Schweinsteiger should turn to the Professional Footballers' Association and he should file a complaint and I would also seek penalty for Mourinho.
"All the players of the first team have to train with the coaches of the first team at the same place, at the same time as all other teammates. That's something that should be applied to each and every club and should be written within FIFA regulations."
The 32-year-old Schweinsteiger recently got married to tennis star Ana Ivanovic, but upon returning to Manchester United, has not been involved in any friendly match, be that the one against Galatasaray in Gothenburg or the Wayne Rooney Testimonial at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
