Manchester United are aiming for a large-scale clearout this season, which means many players will be sold, but Ben Foster thinks the sale that saw the club lose its identity has already been made.
While the Glazers were often accused, and rightly so, of holding onto players for too long in the name of “protecting the value”, Ineos have gone the other way.
Players like Maxi Oyedele and Willy Kambwala in the youth team, and Anthony Martial and Facundo Pellistri in the senior set-up were let go when there was no future for them at Old Trafford.
Scott McTominay flourished after leaving United, while Martial impressed in Greece as well. According to Ben Foster, one sale by Man Utd saw the club lose their identity.
Ben Foster on Man Utd losing their identity
The greatest Manchester United teams have always been built on the back of fine youth prospects coming into the first team, supplemented by the injection of stardust from outside.
Ruben Amorim has stressed the same, leaning heavily on youth development and now adding proven goals plus assists to the team via Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo.
However, as per Ben Foster, United have already sold a player who personified the best of the club and would have been ideal for Amorim too.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Foster said that nothing quite sums up United’s identity crisis as selling a model professional who set dressing room standards like Scott McTominay.
He said: “We [Man Utd] have literally pivoted away from what was “Us [Utd]”. We’ve lost our identity [with McTominay’s sale].
“He’s the sort of player, when the game is going on, you don’t do something, don’t put the work down, he’d look at you and say, ‘Oi! Come on!’, and I’d listen to him, do it properly. It wouldn’t happen again.”
Scott McTominay wouldn’t have reached same heights at Man Utd
Even though Foster criticised McTominay’s sale, he acknowledged the fact that the Scottish midfielder wouldn’t have reached similar heights had he stayed at Old Trafford.
He added McTominay to the likes of Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford, and Antony in the list of players who wouldn’t have worked out at United due to the weight of expectations.
Foster called United the “toughest club” to play for in world football because of the high expectations. It is why players leave for a “smaller” club in terms of profile but achieve big things.
McTominay was an appreciated squad player at Old Trafford but not much more, and needed to feel like a talisman to unlock another level to his game.
That was never going to happen at United so juxtaposing his Napoli performance directly at Man Utd is not exactly a fair comparison.
It’s a deal that worked out for all parties to varying degrees and United will wish nothing but the best for McTominay.
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