West Ham United have opened talks to sign Scott McTominay but Manchester United aren’t all that keen to sell.
We have seen McTominay linked with West Ham on numerous occasions of late as they seek to replace Declan Rice.
The problem with selling Rice for such an enormous fee is that everybody else knows West Ham have money to spend.
United are no different and West Ham’s approach hasn’t exactly gone down well so far.
Sky Sports claim that West Have held ‘initial talks’ over a potential deal to bring McTominay to East London.
It’s stated that there is a huge gap in valuation though and United view McTominay as a ‘top player’.
United allegedly need a ‘very big offer’ in order to sell McTominay, which may leave West Ham to look elsewhere.
What will Scott McTominay’s role be next season?
McTominay only started 10 Premier League games last season and just one in the Europa League.
The 26-year-old wasn’t given a huge role under Erik ten Hag and it’s unclear what the future holds for him.
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We have seen McTominay miscast as a defensive midfielder before, almost by default due to his size.
McTominay may argue that his best role is as a box-crashing midfielder, where his goalscoring ability can shine as it does for Scotland.
That role isn’t particularly defined in a Ten Hag but we did see him deployed in a role we can only really describe as a ‘target 10’.
Mason Mount and Christian Eriksen will be favourites to join Casemiro in midfield, so McTominay may have to make do with a bit-part role again this season.
Other midfielder exits could shape McTominay decision
One other factor to consider is that United are expecting other midfielders to leave the club.
Fred will surely be moving on soon whilst Donny van de Beek needs a fresh start away from Old Trafford.
Offloading those two to bring in a natural anchor man like Sofyan Amrabat makes sense, but United may want to limit more midfield upheaval by selling McTominay.
We can’t see West Ham meeting United’s demands for McTominay, but that probably suits Ten Hag just fine as he seeks to tweak – not overhaul – his United side.