Bastian Schweinsteiger: I'm still in my prime, Man United evolution will take time

Schweinsteiger swapped Munich for Manchester after years of dominance and trophies with Bayern, and in an interview with German newspaper Die Welt, believes he has adjusted to the style of English football quickly - but admits United have not been good enough.

“I believe I’m playing on the level that I was at during the 2014 World Cup, when I silenced my critics," said Schweinsteiger. "Even when I was 20 I couldn’t enter a race with Usain Bolt so my slowness hasn’t changed, but what’s important for my game is that I’m mentally quick, and in that sense I’m as good as ever. My performances in Manchester have been really okay. In November it went really well for me.”

The eight-time Bundesliga champion was named United's player of the month for November and is pleased with how he's adapted his game at United.

“In my eyes I acclimatised to the Premier League very quickly and the only thing that was unusual for me was the many new players. With Bayern and the German national team, I always had the same people around me. So it was a big change, to have new players than playing in another league.”

He admits, however, that United were not brave enough in their crucial Champions League games against PSV Eindhoven and Wolfsburg, which they drew and lost - sending them out of the competition and into the Europa League.

“I’m getting used to us being in the Europa League but we didn’t gamble on the final day against Wolfsburg and before that against Eindhoven. We missed our chances far too easily, and that runs like a red thread through our season: We dominate the game, but do not score the decisive goal. Otherwise, we would now be in the Champions League knockout round as group winners.”

United slipped to a second consecutive league defeat of the season on Saturday against Norwich, which happened to be the second game of a three-match ban the Germany captain is serving for violent conduct against West Ham’s Winston Reid. And Schweinsteiger accepts that United, whose manager Louis van Gaal is under growing pressure, have a lot of work to do before they can even think about competing with the very best teams in Europe again.

“In many ways we are not yet at the level of Bayern Munich or Barcelona,” he said. “We do not have Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Arjen Robben or Franck Ribery in our team. We play with three 20-year-old forwards. That's something else. In Bavaria I had ten world-class player next to me. And here we want to get there. But it takes time.”

For now United’s focus returns to domestic matters and returning to contention for the Premier League, a league which the 31-year-old admits is very open and much tougher than the Bundesliga.

“The quality of the league is more balanced and the power density is much narrower,” he said. “Each team in England has at least one player in their ranks who can decide a game alone. This makes the Premier League so exciting. But the real innovation is not the league, but the completely different squads.”

Schweinsteiger will miss the trip to Stoke on Boxing Day, but will return against Chelsea at Old Trafford on December 28.