Sabitzer joined the Reds on January&aposs transfer deadline day. During his time at the club, the Austrian put in some solid performances for United, scoring three goals in 18 appearances from midfield.
At the end of his loan spell, Erik ten Hag opted against signing the 29-year-old permanently with Borussia Dortmund purchasing him for 19m from Bayern Munich. While he did not return to United, Sabitzer still holds fond memories of his time at the club.
He told The Athletic: “I feel very positive about my time there and still talk to a couple of people. You ask yourself [this season]: Whats going on? Theres a lot of noise, results are not good, theyve had defeats at home, which almost felt unthinkable last season.
“And theres still the unresolved situation of the ownership. You can see what that does to a team. I feel sorry for them because theyre all good guys, and extremely hungry for success.”
When asked what he thought may be going wrong, Sabitzer replied: “Casemiro, Luke Shaw and Lisandro Martinez (all injured) they are leaders that provide structure and stability to the team. Erik ten Hag comes up with very specific match plans and patterns of play. But if you have too many important players missing and too many changes as a result, things get lost between the tactics board and the pitch. The rhythm of players coming isnt right, processes arent right.”
Sabitzer suffered with injuries during his spell in the Premier League and, looking back, he feels this could have cost him a permanent deal. He concluded: “I already picked up the injury two weeks into my stay and then played through the pain because I wanted to make it work.
“But at one point, I couldnt go on any more and had to have surgery.”
