Tom Cairney has been left wowed by Scott McTominay’s performances this season but can’t understand why he’s not a regular starter.
Earlier in the campaign, the Carrington graduate was a mainstay on the teamsheet each week. That was until Kobbie Mainoo began his scintillating emergence into the team and Casemiro returned from a lengthy injury layoff.
Mainoo, 18, is rated so highly by Erik ten Hag that he’s keeping his senior midfield counterparts out of the starting 11; McTominay, Christian Eriksen and Sofyan Amrabat have all been made to settle for reduced roles while the youngster flourishes in a first-team setup for the first time in his career.
It leaves Ten Hag in a sticky situation as he’s never going to drop Casemiro, Mainoo or Bruno Fernandes long-term, but McTominay is United’s top goalscorer in the Premier League with an impressive seven to his name. Four of those have come off the bench, and no player in the top division has scored more as a substitute.
Cairney’s high praise for McTominay
Gushing about the Scotsman on The Players Channel, Cairney said: “He has obviously gone further back but sometimes you can see [he used to be a striker]. He is quite sharp with his finishing in the box. It’s like touch, bang. I remember the one at Brentford at home when they came back.”
“I don’t think that ever leaves you,” the Fulham skipper continued. “And his record at international level is ridiculous as well, he’s Scotland’s top goalscorer by a mile. At some point, the manager surely has to have a feeling like ‘Oh my god, surely I need to get this guy in my team’. Goalscoring midfielders are rare these days.”
And managers who can afford to ignore using goalscoring midfielders in their first 11 are even rarer still..