Bastian Schweinsteiger Names The One England Star Germany Would Love To Have

Bastian Schweinsteiger has named the one England player Germany he would love to have in the Germany national team.

Schweinsteiger was capped 121 times by Germany in an international career which lasted from 2004 to 2016. He was an integral member of the World Cup-winning side from 2014 and played alongside a number of incredible players, including the likes of Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller, Miroslav Klose, Michael Ballack and Mesut Ozil.

The current Germany side is still stocked with plenty talent but there is a strong argument to say that England have a better and more complete squad than the four-time world champions at present.

And Schweinsteiger, who played in England for two seasons with his beloved Manchester United towards the end of his career, was quick to name the one star he wishes Germany could call upon.

The Bayern Munich legend picked out Arsenal's Declan Rice, who has quickly ascended into one of the top midfielders in world football and will likely be in contention for the PFA Player of the Year award.

Speaking at a social experiment event put on by Heineken in New York, Schweinsteiger told SPORTbible: “Declan Rice, I would say Declan Rice. Yeah, [I'm a] big fan. He’s an all-rounder. I like what he does, yeah.”

Rice initially represented the Republic of Ireland at youth level and played three times for the senior side before switching international allegiance and playing 72 times for England, where he is one of the first names on the teamsheet.

Schweinsteiger's four favourite past England players

Schweinsteiger shared the pitch with a plethora of England's top players throughout his career, whether in action for club and country. At United, he later became teammates with Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick, who he invited to join him at Oktoberfest in Munich.

But Rooney is one of five England players from the past that Schweinsteiger rated incredibly highly and feels as though they could have easily played for Die Mannschaft.

Schweinsteiger became close friends with Rooney at United. Image: Getty

He singled out Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand and Ashley Cole, putting the latter at left-back and moving his former captain Philipp Lahm to the opposite side.

“So Wazza would be for sure the one," Schweinsteiger said.

"Stevie G [Steven Gerrard]. Rio [Ferdinand].

“Ashley, actually, Ashley Cole. But we had Philipp Lahm, so we would put Philipp on the other side. But Ashley, yeah."

England's current crop head into the World Cup in North America managed by a German after Thomas Tuchel led the Three Lions to a perfect qualifying campaign where they did not concede a single goal.

Schweinsteiger likes what Tuchel has brought to England. Image: Getty

Schweinsteiger is a man who knows what it takes to win the World Cup after his 2014 heroics and he believes England's improved defensive unit puts them in the mix as contenders to go all the way, alongside usual suspects France and Spain.

“I would say that France actually has the strongest team, and then Spain, they do very well," Schweinsteiger when asked who is going to win the World Cup.

“Then England as well, with Thomas Tuchel as a coach, they did a great group [qualifying]. Germany, semi- finals, quarter-finals, something like that.

“I think the biggest strength which he brought back into the England squad is having clean sheets, and that's defensively very well. Maybe you don't win a match by 6-0 or something like that, but at least you always have a clean sheet, that's very important. If you are playing at the World Cup, you need to have that strength, otherwise you have no chance.”