It speaks volumes about the quality available to most Premier League clubs these days that a man who shone so brightly for Manchester United last term might struggle to nail down a starting role for a club who finished 13th.
But that is the reality, one pundit argues, facing a player who may be allowed to leave Old Trafford if the Red Devils’ £30 million asking price is met.
With just one month of the window remaining, the futures of many a Manchester United man are still stuck in limbo.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka is seemingly on his way to West Ham, opening up space for Noussair Mazraoui. Offers would be considered too for Victor Lindelof, Casemiro, Christian Eriksen, Antony and Jadon Sancho.
And then there is Scott McTominay. A sale that would likely split the United fanbase right down the middle.
Manchester United could sell Scott McTominay
Understandably given that he scored 10 often highly-important goals last term – McTominay responding to Erik ten Hag’s bat signal with several winning strikes – there are many on the Old Trafford terraces who have taken the ‘exceptional‘ Carrington graduate to their heart.
But with his 28th birthday only a few months away, Man United are unlikely to stand in McTominay’s way should Fulham meet their £30 million asking price.
When everyone is fit and available, McTominay is likely to be behind Kobbie Mainoo, Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount in the pecking order. Man United’s fourth-choice number eight. Even last season – McTominay’s best as a Red Devil – he only started 18 Premier League matches.
“Yeah, I think it is about time he went and played football,” former England striker Darren Bent tells talkSPORT (5 August, 4.30pm). “Like, regular football.
“He is a good player. But I am not sure he is going to start week in and week out (for Manchester United).”
Fulham have had two bids rejected so far
Bent, who represented The Cottagers in 2013/14, feels that not even Fulham could guarantee McTominay a place in their first XI however.
Alex Iwobi is a favourite of Silva’s, while McTominay’s former United teammate Andreas Pereira also excelled in West London. Joao Palhinha’s departure to Bayern Munich leaves a massive void in the Fulham engine room but McTominay has often struggled when asked to play as a number six at Man United.
“There’s no guarantee that he goes to Fulham and plays every week, by the way,” Bent muses. “But he needs to do that. He needs to.”
McTominay’s sale feels like something of a necessary evil.
If United are to bring in a new midfielder before the end of the transfer window – and that is a must given how the ever-calamitous Casemiro performed in that 3-0 defeat to Liverpool over in the USA – then McTominay is taking on the ‘sacrificial lamb’ role; served up at the altar of the Financial Fair Play gods.
Man United have walked away from those Manuel Ugarte discussions after Paris Saint-Germain refused to drop their asking price.
Sky Sports now say that the FA Cup winners could shift their focus to Burnley’s Sander Berge, Monaco contract rebel Youssouf Fofana, Real Sociedad playmaker Martin Zubimendi or even former loanee Sofyan Amrabat.
- READ MORE: Manchester United confirmed signings, transfers in, out, loan exits, releases for 2024/25
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