Former Manchester United midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger had a bizarre clause in his contract that penalised him for speaking out against his bosses, it is claimed.
The German made just 13 Premier League starts during his two seasons with the Red Devils, and was offloaded to MLS outfit Chicago Fire in March.
Schweinsteiger could be forgiven for feeling hard done by as he struggled for game time under Louis van Gaal - who signed him from Bayern Munich for £14million in 2015 - and then Jose Mourinho.
However, the World Cup winner apparently had a clause in his £7,548,357-a-year contract that would see him docked up to two weeks wages for criticising his managers in the media, according to the book ‘Football Leaks: The Dirty Business of Football’.
United have dismissed the claims.
Schweinsteiger put his sorry spell behind with a move to States but is already fed up with the low standard of the MLS in comparison to the Premier League .
He has played six times, netting twice, but admits the quality is much poorer than he is used to in England and Germany.
The 32-year-old's Chicago Fire are winless in three games - with a 2-2 draw with LA Galaxy on the Sunday the most recent game without victory.
"Chicago Fire finished as the bottom club in the previous two seasons and I did not expect that we'd win every match and finish on top by a mile," Schweinsteiger told Suddeutsche Zeitung.
"One player's influence in football is not as big as in other sports, it's 11 players vs. 11 players. And we didn't play all that bad until now and were pretty much on [the same] level in our losses to Toronto and New York Red Bulls. But we still have a lot of work to do.
"We all know that this league is just not like the Premier League or the Bundesliga and, of course, it can be frustrating on the pitch at times when things discussed [in the team meeting] are not implemented or when somebody loses a ball or just does not have an eye for the team-mate.
"I don't blame anyone for it, that's my problem – I need to adapt to the league and cope with those situations.
"If you compare it to Bayern Munich or the national team, the difference is huge, but I knew what I let myself in for."