Is Schweinsteiger just a decorated decoy with United unable to sign an in-form superstar?

It was half an hour or so after Manchester United had beaten Club Brugge 3-1 and there was a seemingly familiar face in the tunnel at Old Trafford. Dressed casually, with a United shirt under a beige jacket, he bore a distinct resemblance to one of the most successful footballers of his generation. He was relishing his time in the inner sanctum. As a suited Ashley Young passed, he grabbed the winger and asked if he would pose for a picture with him. Young obliged, pleasing the grinning German.

Tobias Schweinsteiger is a doppelganger for his more famous brother. It made for a surreal sight as a man whose family photo album should contain numerous snaps of the man of the match in the 2014 World Cup final was desperate to get a memento of a moment with Young, a deserving achiever last season but a lesser talent. Sadly, his jacket remained on, depriving those watching of a chance to see if he had the name of another United squad member – Phil Jones, say, or Jonny Evans or Marouane Fellaini or even a nostalgic throwback to the days when Tom Cleverley, Alexander Buttner or Bebe were at Old Trafford – on the back of his shirt.

But Tobias Schweinsteiger seems to be savouring his brother’s choice of club. So, too, does Bastian Schweinsteiger. He is serving as United’s smiling ambassador, a charming, charismatic presence with a natural eloquence, excellent English and a social-media savviness to equip him for 21st-century life. Accustomed to life at the more media-friendly Bayern Munich, he seems to have done a disproportionate number of interviews in his brief United career. He has become a front man for a group of players who, Wayne Rooney apart, lack the stature and stardust some of their predecessors possessed.

Off the pitch, he has provided reminders of the impact his former manager for club and country, Jurgen Klinsmann, had at Tottenham 20 years ago. On it, he has started one game and is yet to play for more than an hour.

Therein lies the issue. Perhaps Schweinsteiger is a decorated decoy, a high-class camouflage obscuring the reality that United have not bought an attacking superstar at the peak of their powers. The longest name a United player has ever boasted is also much the biggest name they have signed this summer. Yet reports in Germany suggest his price was as low as £6.3 million and even at a cost of £14.5 million, he does not belong in the same bracket as Gareth Bale or Neymar, the true statement signings, whose presence at Spain’s superpowers illustrates that, for all their wealth, United are currently in the second tier of European clubs.

Schweinsteiger is a boost to United’s strangely fragile self-esteem, which is yet to recover from their harrowing 2013-14 season. It was notable that, in his non-competitive debut against Club America, his every touch was cheered; it was as though the supporters in Seattle were overwhelmed with gratitude that he, a World Cup and Champions League winner, genuinely wanted to be at Old Trafford.

When his move from Bayern was announced, Tobias posted a picture on Facebook showing the Schweinsteigers in United shirts as boys. Bastian is an Anglophile with an awareness of the history and traditions of United that Angel Di Maria seemed to lack. The Argentine’s lack of English was one reason why he seemed a ghostly presence. Schweinsteiger serves as an envoy, the best United have bought in the post-Ferguson era when Ed Woodward’s capacity to generate money means they want a poster boy for the global brand.

Radamel Falcao had the profile, the good looks and the good intentions. “I hope to stay many years at Manchester United and make history in this club,” he said at his unveiling last September. Yet the reality that United was his fifth club in five years – and he is now at a sixth in six – meant it was easier to doubt the Colombian. The United fans’ desperation for a superstar to succeed was perhaps one reason why they were so generous in their treatment of Falcao, who pocketed £265,000 a week and scored four goals in a sorry season.

Louis van Gaal struggled to accommodate him. His initial plan for Schweinsteiger seems to be in a job-share with Michael Carrick, ensuring that, at any given point, United have an experienced, technically gifted central midfielder who can pick a pass, as the German did when he split the Club Brugge defence for Ander Herrera to score on Wednesday. That second half was the sole time they have played together, Van Gaal seemingly using the two old heads to establish an element of control. For all the fanfare surrounding Schweinsteiger’s arrival, however, reality will prove more mundane if he is simply Carrick’s deputy. Since Van Gaal took over, United have won 78 per cent of league games Carrick has started and only 35 per cent of those he hasn’t.

Schweinsteiger is more progressive than the Englishman in many respects. It was notable that, on his first start against Newcastle, he spent more time in the final third than the anchorman would. It was also significant how long it took them to get there. He was a more dynamic presence in the previous game he began at Old Trafford, 2014’s Champions League quarter-final when he scored and, as he phrased it, got the “yellow-red card”. He used to drive forward. Now he chugs.

At such moments it was hard to dismiss Pep Guardiola’s verdict where, apart from suggesting he will be an excellent signing if fit, the Bayern manager said:

Yet if the legs are less willing, the brain was working in overdrive against Newcastle. Watching Schweinsteiger brought back memories of seeing Lothar Matthaus, another Bayern icon, in his latter years when he seemed to be five moves ahead of everyone else but, because of his lack of pace, needed to be. A couple of penetrative passes and an ability to find space were evidence of insightful thinking, but he tired and was taken off.

Perhaps it is unfair to assess his physical capabilities after an interrupted pre-season and when Van Gaal is trying to ease him into peak shape. Yet Guardiola suggested that may forever be elusive. The certainty is that United have bought a personality and a presence, a footballing thinker and a natural diplomat. He is the anti-Di Maria, but has to prove he is midfield mastermind and not just a multimillionaire mascot.