Nicky Butt, head of Manchester United‘s academy between 2016 and 2019, would often use midfielder Scott McTominay as an example for young players hoping to carve out a career at the club.
Butt would say that McTominay’s progress is a case of “character with talent and not talent with character.” In other words: being a gifted footballer is not enough when your attitude isn’t right.
It’s something Man United manager Erik ten Hag referenced after McTominay came off the bench to score the winner against Aston Villa on Sunday, securing a result that keeps United in the race to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
“You have to credit a player like Scott,” Ten Hag said. “He is an example for many players these days. There are not many players any more who are ready for every minute they can be on the pitch.”
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Despite being a Ten Hag favourite and United’s top goal scorer in the Premier League this season, it’s likely that McTominay will find himself back among the substitutes for the trip to Luton Town on Sunday. Even though he is seventh in total minutes so far, he has started only 12 of 21 league games, and though his seven league goals have won United 12 points — they would be in the bottom half of the table without them — it’s not guaranteed he will still be at Old Trafford next season.
McTominay has shown a strong desire to stay at the club in the past, like when he rejected loan moves in January 2019 to stay and fight for his place under former United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. But there will be a temptation for United to listen to offers to sign him in the summer.
As an academy graduate, McTominay got a book value of zero because no transfer fee was involved. Thus, if he was moved on, any money generated from the transfer would go down as pure profit in the club accounts.
United have been wary of breaching the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) to the point where Ten Hag was unable to even bring in a striker on loan during the January window. Receiving a significant fee for the transfer of McTominay would boost a financial situation that club insiders have described as “tight.”
The financial rules, and the knock-on benefit of accepting offers for academy players, has, in part, changed the way United run their talent production. Decisions on players are being made earlier, and while there is still room for the likes of Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo to break into the first team, there’s more willingness to let others go who are at a level below.
Anthony Elanga is the last player to score for United in a Champions League knockout match, but last summer the club were happy to accept a £15 million offer from Nottingham Forest. Meanwhile, Dean Henderson, Matej Kovar, Ethan Laird and Zidane Iqbal have also departed in the last 12 months, helping United record their highest Q1 player transfer profits since Cristiano Ronaldo was sent to Real Madrid for a world-record £80m in 2009.
It all raises a question: if McTominay was coming through the system now, would he still have been around to make his senior debut as a 20-year-old like he did under Jose Mourinho in 2017? A late bloomer physically, who struggled with injury when he was younger, he wasn’t always seen as a nailed-on first-team prospect.
United have tried to protect themselves in case a youngster goes on to flourish at another club by including clauses to re-sign them for a fixed fee as well as the right to match a competitor’s offer in most deals.
There are also clauses which give the club a percentage of any future transfer and bonuses for both individual and team achievements built into the deals which took Elanga to Forest, James Garner to Everton and Teden Mengi to Luton. Some of the potential percentage fees negotiated are as much as 50%, and Man United hope that club-trained youngsters playing elsewhere will eventually generate a steady stream of income.
It all helps to stay on the right side of PSR, as well as boost the budget to sign established stars — particularly ahead of a crucial summer window, which will be the first overseen by new minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS team.
At the end of the season, United face decisions on more young players like 19-year-old defender Willy Kambwala, who made his first-team debut against West Ham in December, but also on 27-year-old McTominay.
Last summer, West Ham bid around £30m to sign McTominay, and the player also drew tentative interest from Bayern Munich. A successful Euro 2024 with Scotland would further increase his profile.
Although United aren’t forcing him out of the door, making McTominay available for transfer would improve the club’s financial situation. There is also the lingering question for the midfielder about whether he’s happy to accept a squad role at United — a club he’s been associated with since the age of five — or move on to become a regular starter somewhere else.
As Butt liked to say, McTominay’s United career is a product of grit and determination as much as anything else. He showed it again at Villa Park, and in scoring two goals in stoppage time to turn defeat into victory against Brentford in October.
Certainly, Ten Hag values McTominay’s character in the dressing room and needs his goals on the pitch if he hopes to end the season well. But Manchester United might also decide they need the money to help fund their summer rebuild.
