There’s something about Man United and Scottish midfielders who will rarely excite you when they play, but you really notice a negative impact on the team when they are missing.
Darren Fletcher played that role for years, where his relentless running and defensive instincts were vital to the team, but he also had some quality about him too.
That role has now been assumed by Scott McTominay, but a report from Sky Sports has suggested things could’ve been very different.
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Of course a loan spell is designed to allow a player to develop and show that they can do, but it’s so easy to leave and be forgotten about at the biggest clubs.
The report suggests that McTominay was close to a temporary switch to Celtic when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over from Jose Mourinho, but he chose to stay and backed himself to get into the side.
That obviously worked as he now looks like one of the first names on the team sheet. We still don’t know what will happen with Paul Pogba, but the Scotsman’s presence behind Pogba and Bruno Fernandes could be fantastic to watch.
Speaking about the incident, McTominay said:
“About a year-and-a-half ago there was a time where it (loan move) might have been a possibility and then somebody leaves or something like that, and then your opportunity comes and you have to take it.”
“You hear loads of stories about boys going on loan and different things like that and I always had it in my head that I don’t want that. I want to be showing myself here first and if it doesn’t work here then you go somewhere else.”
No one knows how things would have worked out if he had taken that loan move, but you have to think he’s very happy with how things have worked out.