Let’s make no bones about it – if West Ham had bid more than £30million back in August, Scott McTominay would probably be playing in claret and blue right now.
Erik ten Hag should count his blessings they didn’t because, at the moment, McTominay is one of the principal reasons he is still Manchester United manager.
The Scot’s stoppage time heroics against Brentford just before the October international break eased pressure on Ten Hag. After it, he scored an important goal at Sheffield United.
On Wednesday, McTominay made the difference again, his double in the 2-1 win over Chelsea offering his manager much needed pre-Christmas tidings of comfort and joy.
It came in a week of stories about Ten Hag losing the faith of half the United dressing room, to which he responded by banning four news outlets from his Tuesday press conference.
That doesn’t reflect too well on Marcus Rashford or Rasmus Hojlund but it’s no aberration – McTominay also netted seven goals as Scotland qualified for Euro 2024.
The midfielder looks certain to beat his previous best goalscoring return for United – seven during the 2020-21 campaign.
McTominay is 27 on Friday, has played 225 times for United and is regarded as a solid if unspectacular contributor. But we may now be seeing him in his best role.
Scotland boss Steve Clarke has been more than happy to allow McTominay to maraud forward and get into scoring positions and it seems Ten Hag has taken the hint too.
