Manchester United are expected to oversee a mass exodus of the squad in Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s maiden transfer window as co-owner.
The INEOS CEO has made clear his desire to restore the club to its former glories and have them competing among the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool again.
As it stands, they couldn’t be further away. 24 points separates United and the top-two, and they have lost nine more games than both City and Liverpool in the Premier League thus far.
Therefore, a ruthless clearout of all the deadwood is required, but that in itself poses the dilemma of which players constitute as such.
Scott McTominay, of course, couldn’t possibly fall under that category. He has – surprisingly – played a crucial role for Erik ten Hag this season with his unexpected goalscoring heroics.
He’s now on 10 goals for the term in all competitions, seven of which have come in the league. His latest was the opener in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final tie, again proving he can step up to the mark in such high-stakes fixtures.
The Scotland international was the subject of West Ham United’s interest last summer. David Moyes’ side tabled a £30 million bid for the midfielder, which was swiftly rejected by the Reds as it didn’t meet their £45m valuation – a fee that will have only increased given his contributions over the past eight months.
McTominay’s future safe at United
It’s such contributions that’s led to McTominay’s future being secure at Old Trafford, with the hierarchy unwilling to sell a player that can provide vital goals on big occasions.
Dean Jones shared his understanding of the 27-year-old’s situation, telling GiveMeSport: “Scott McTominay is not one of the players United will actively look to offload in the summer. His goal in the FA Cup semi-final has become pretty symbolic of how he can impact games.
“Even though I don’t expect him to be a regular starter in the team going forward, I know that he is still very well respected within the club and that there are figures who feel it would be silly to lose a homegrown product like him who understands the club and also can be effective when used properly.
“He and [Harry] Maguire are always talked about as having their future on the line at United, and I think that’s still the case for Maguire, but not so much for McTominay.”
PLEASE,PLEASE,PLEASE DON’T SELL Scott or Harry! Like any athlete they make mistakes but both play with HEART and PASSION !! Harry I think has improved since ETH has come because it causes Harry to be outside he “comfort” zone. His passing and dribbling have improved and ,yes, he gets beat by speed but he has been more positive then negative. Scott is the same way. He may take risky chances but once again there have been more “positives” than “negatives.” Scott could probably start at 16 other clubs so it will be his decision to stay or not.
We can’t want to compete and have players like Scott anywhere near Carrington, he’s alright but he’s not at the level required both technically and tactically for where we need to be as a team if we’re ever going to close the gap on the Teams above us, honestly.
Any good offer for him should be accepted so we can all work at repositioning the club for greatness.
My concern is on the proposed change of manager.
Ten Hag now understands the squad to the extent that he knows what is required to rectify what has caused dismal performance this season. But he should be given the benefit of doubt due to factors beyond his control eg sickness, Onana’s initial bad form, inadequate squad and possibly dressing room conspiracies among other reasons.
A change in manager would be due to failure to critically analyse what has transpired during the season.