Scott McTominay new Deal?
Is this the best move?
In a turn of events, it appears as if the Scotland international has “won over” manager Erik ten Hag 😳.
Why this is a turn of events is because before the start of the campaign, it looked like Scotty needed to pack his bags and move to London (West Ham and Fulham were calling) or even Germany and join up with Bayern Munich.
However, according to The Sun, this new potential deal would run until 2026 as the club want to activate the year extension in his current contract which is set to expire at the end of next season (24/25).
In that Sun article, they speak about how a source told them that “Scott has turned his career around at Manchester United. He’s been one of the few bright points of a dismal season so far and has showed a new side to his game, scoring goals from midfield.
The owners are very keen to invest in British players which is why Scott is likely to be offered an additional year on his current deal.”
However, The Sun’s source also said that there is no guarantee that the Scotsman will sign this new deal.
This article also mentions how McTominay wants to play regularly and that if he isn’t a mainstay in the side, then he may want to move on. Otherwise, he will remain at United for several years.
The reason for this possible contract extension (other than the fact that ten Hag seems to rate him) is to make sure that McTerminator doesn’t leave on a free when his contract expires.
Another reason is that Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants “to invest in key British players” — The Sun.
Scott McTominay
Other than good finishing, what has he got? What is his best position?
I really don’t know what he is. Scotty doesn’t seem to be a proper box-to-box number 8, he’s no CDM, he’s definitely not a number 10 and other than his aforementioned great finishing, we know that there is a lot more work into being a top striker than just goals so he can’t play up top either, and this isn’t accounting for Rasmus Hojlund, the £70m striker signed in the summer.
He doesn’t track back his runners, he is hardly next to his midfield partner leaving them isolated and open to exploitation by oppositions (he’s not the only one), he’s constantly running forward and getting in the way of the striker.
Scotty hinders us more than helps us.
If we are simply going to pump long balls into the box, then yeah, McT is perfect. But if that’s what we are now…
Looking at some of his numbers this season, other than being joint second-top scorer on 6, he is quite abysmal.
Premier League:
Games — 18
Goals — 5
Assists — 0
Passes — 392 — midfield rank, 73
Touches — 604 — midfield rank, 68
Blocks — 7 — midfield rank, 8
Interceptions — 10 — midfield rank, 10
Big chances created — 1
Through balls — 0
Passes per 90 — 32.7
Touches per 90 — 50.3
A comparison between McTominay and youngster Kobbie Mainoo is quite the eye-opener:
Kobbie Mainoo has played 604 fewer minutes. That is equivalent to 6.7 games. He’s numbers aren’t that much off worse than McTominay’s. Scott is 27, Mainoo is 18. McTominay has been playing first team football since 2017. This has been Mainoo’s first season.
I’m not a big one for stats but good Lord, does this guy suck! For him to be so lowly ranked as a midfielder in so many categories is simply not good enough. For an 18-year-old in his debut season to be not so far off him in terms of all these midfield numbers and after having played waaaaaaaayyyyyy less, is an embarrassment.
United career
Scott McTominay has played a total of 233 games for United after making his debut in 2017 under Jose Mourinho. In that time, he’s scored 25 goals and gathered just the 6 assists.
6 assists?! In six-and-a-half seasons?! 1 of those came in the defeat to Copenhagen this campaign.
He turned 27 this past December meaning that he has now entered his prime. Most people still treat this guy as if he was a young lad only coming into the side.
Scotty is now a senior figure in the squad and should be a player that the likes of Mainoo should be looking up to. In all honesty, it’s kind of the other way round, at least in a football sense.
What Mainoo has done so far, McTominay should really be making note of what the youngster does on the pitch. Kobbie has been more impressive in his short stint in the first team than McTominay has ever done in his six seasons.
The deal
If this talk about Sir Jim wanting to keep McTominay as part of a ‘British core’ let’s say, and that McTominay has “won over” ten Hag due to his performances this season, then I’m worried. Really worried.
If this is all because they don’t want him to go for free, then it’s understandable but having seen United reject a decent bid of around £25m to £30m from West Ham last summer, what makes one think they won’t say no to the next offer especially if he has won over the manager?
I find this deal to be stupid, whatever the reasons are for potentially doing it. As I said, McTominay has been playing for United for six years, is 27 and nobody can truly decide what type of player he is.
For a player to be in their prime yet have no one knowing where their best position is is quite the problem.
How has someone like that “won over” the manager? Is it simply because of the goals? I suppose that could make sense because we saw what Rashford did last season and we know how much ten Hag loves him. You could make the argument that if you take away the goals from Rashford, what else is he actually good at? What does he bring to the team?
Maybe it is all about goals with ten Hag 🤷♂️.
This also comes down to how he wants his team to play. If he is to keep with this counter attacking, long ball crap, then players like McTominay could work, although even in that style, he is still shite when looking at his overall performances.
With so many other midfielders, where would McTominay fit in? Christian Eriksen, Sofyan Amrabat, youngster Kobbie Mainoo and £55m summer signing and new number 7 Mason Mount are also players who can play in Scott’s position.
Final Thoughts
The most English-sounding Scotsman is a player I have always highly NOT rated. I think he’s absolute shite to be honest. I don’t know how this guy is a professional footballer for Man Utd.
Fair play to him though.
I’m not sure what “turning his United career around” means. If its his ability going forward and goal scoring, that has always been there. Scott has been a pretty good player in and around the box (which is something that even I can admit) so that shouldn’t come as a surprise.
And if he is a bright spot in this season, that should tell one everything.
That whole investing in British players is silly. How many good British players are there out there? Those that are good are already at top clubs or rivals. Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Trent Alexander-Arnold and so forth, will most likely never come to United, or are highly unlikely. This leaves just the average Joes of the British game. We definitely don’t want any (more) of those at Old Trafford.
This will NOT sit well with me should INEOS be looking to do this. Hopefully it’s not true and someone like Omar Berrada will put things right.
It is a bit of a shame because McTerminator does seem to be a good lad especially off the pitch. Scott looks to have the right mindset, character and personality. You hear about how vocal he is in the dressing room and how he tries to help inspire and motivate the team.
But the problem is that he is shit. On the field, he is so poor it really isn’t even funny anymore. The brutal truth is that it’s like he’s a glorified cheerleader. Having a player like that isn’t what we need. It’s great that he has all the right attributes off the field but what’s the point when he can’t perform on it?
We need better than this.
United should be looking to get rid of such players if we want to be a serious club. If INEOS decide that this is the type of player to keep, then I really do question whether they are the right type of owners.
#ScottMcTominay #EriktenHag #mufc #ggmu #INEOS #SirJim #GlazersOut
