Where will Bastian Schweinsteiger fit in new look Manchester United midfield?

Bastian Schweinsteiger made the switch to Manchester United from Bayern Munich

The signing of Bastian Schweinsteiger is one that seems to have divided opinions among Manchester United fans. On the one hand, he is clearly a player of great quality, helping Germany to the World Cup and Bayern Munich to the Champions League.

On the other, he is 31 and the experience of Radamel Falcao has cautioned fans against becoming too excited by stars whose best years are probably behind them and who have suffered protracted injury problems moving to the Premier League. There also seems to be a certain amount of confusion about how Schweinsteiger will be used.

What, many have asked, is the point in replacing a 33-year-old with a 31-year-old. Which is a fair question, if Louis van Gaal seems Schweinsteiger as a replacement for Michael Carrick. And whether he does or not is fascinating. It may be that in terms of wages and age profile of the squad the arrival of Schweinsteiger does hasten the departure of Carrick but until recently the styles of play of the two have seemed very different.

Schweinsteiger played only four games as a defensive central midfielder for Bayern last season. Intriguingly, his Whoscored.com average in those matches was 8.64 as he scored two goals and registered three assists, significantly better than his average in any other position, albeit with a very small sample size).

He is – still – a more dynamic player than Carrick, but his passing last season was not so different: a completion rate of 87.7% against Carrick’s 89.6% and 3.5 long balls per game against Carrick’s 5.4. If Schweinsteiger played deeper more consistently, it’s fair to assume both those values would increase.

Carrick has always been a safe and steady midfielder, but Schweinsteiger has developed into one, having started out as an erratic wide midfielder. Jogi Low had played him as an anchor for Germany against Wales in 2007, but it was in Van Gaal’s time at Bayern that the move into the centre became more permanent.

Pep Guardiola never seemed entirely convinced and often played him slightly further forward, but Schweinsteiger produced a memorable performance in the role in the 2014 World Cup final, and was perhaps the major reason Lionel Messi failed to impose himself on that game.

His pass completion rate has been remarkably consistent since Van Gaal moved him to the middle in 2009. Since then, only once has it fallen under 85% for the season, while in 2013/14 it got as high as 89.9%. He’s always been a good long passer as well: his long passes per game reached a high of 9.5 per game in the Bundesliga under Van Gaal in 2009/10.

To put that in context, Carrick reached a high of 90.1% pass completion in the Premier League in 2011/12 but has never had a season in which he played more than an average of 6 long passes per game. Schweinsteiger regularly outstripped Carrick in terms of key passes per game – again, probably a feature of where on the pitch they played rather than anything more fundamental.

So in terms of passing ability, Schweinsteiger seems perfectly capable of replacing Carrick. Defensively too, their records are not dissimilar. Schweinsteiger has made 2.6 tackles and 1.7 interceptions per game over the past six years and Carrick 2.3 tackles and 2.3 interceptions. They win the ball back a roughly equal amount.

The only doubt is that suggested by those figures: that Carrick’s positional sense is better and so he is able to win the ball more often without having to make a challenge. Again, though, that may be more an issue of positioning than anything else.

But even if it turns out that Schweinsteiger doesn’t have the tactical brain of Carrick – and given how Van Gaal has used him in the past, the indications are that he thinks he does – his passing and versatility is such that he could be used alongside Carrick or Daley Blind – or indeed Morgan Schneiderlin if he signs (who looks likely to join this week) - at the back of midfield.

The worry is less tactical than whether, at 31, after all his ankle problems, whether he is fit enough fully to contribute.