‘I was Cristiano Ronaldo’s teammate

Axel Tuanzebe has been teammates with Manchester United legends like Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. But the defender says the best player he’s ever played with was a £6.5million star who lasted just 18 months at Old Trafford. Tuanzebe joined United at the age of eight but would make just 37 senior appearances for the club, spending much of his time out on loan at Aston Villa, Napoli and Stoke City.

Image Credit: Metro [Real Sociedad v Manchester United - UEFA Europa League]

The 27-year-old eventually left for good in 2023, joining former Red Devils coach Kieran McKenna at Ipswich Town where he won promotion to the Premier League and is now battling to keep the club in the top-flight. During his career, the centre-back has had the chance to train with and play alongside some of best in the world, including Ronaldo, Rooney, John Terry, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David de Gea.

Image Credit: Metro [Manchester United v Swansea City - Premier League]

Yet, when speaking on The Overlap, he had no hesitation in naming Bastian Schweinsteiger as the best player he had ever played with. ‘He was 34, 35 at the time… I could not get anywhere near him and I’m 19 at this point so I’ve got legs for days!’ Tuanzebe said, shocking his interviewer.

‘He was three, four, five steps ahead of me. He knew how to control the ball and make me off balance. ‘He was incredible in the box, I’ve never seen a player… he had an ability to slow down time. ‘The ball, it’s like a ping pong in there especially at that level. You had a box of Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ashley Young, Michael Carrick, Schweinsteiger.

‘In four or five days [of training] you might see him in the middle twice. It was unbelievable.’. Schweinsteiger was regarded as one of the best midfielders of his generation, winning countless trophies with Bayern Munich and the 2014 World Cup with Germany.

Even though he was in the twilight of his career, it was viewed as a real coup when United signed him in 2015, but the move didn’t really work out and he was later humiliatingly banished from the first-team by Jose Mourinho. He joined Chicago Fire in March 2017, hanging up his boots for good two years later.

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