No pressure, then.
Scott McTominay has broken into the Manchester United first team this season, despite being up against Paul Pogba and Ander Herrera for a place in the team. He started against Liverpool at Old Trafford a couple of weeks back and showed just why Mourinho trusts him – his positional discipline was excellent.
His form in a United shirt earned him a call-up to the Scotland squad, after he elected to play for them over England. And Sir Alex Ferguson has tipped the young midfielder to become an international star, much like David Beckham.
The comparisons beyond the blonde haircut are few, but Sir Alex knows a talent when he sees one.
“Scott was a wee bit like David Beckham. When he joined us, he was just a wee small lad and then, all of a sudden, whoosh, he just shot up,” Ferguson told the Scottish Sun.
“David didn’t even get into our youth team the year we won the FA Youth Cup until the semi-final. It’s a growing thing. Paul Scholes was just a small lad, but he sprouted up to 5ft 8in, the height he is now.
“Scott was a skelf of a boy, then he sprouted when he became an apprentice.
“In fact, he was playing centre-forward for the youth team.They lost Ashley Fletcher to West Ham and Marcus Rashford wasn’t getting into the team at the time because he was also growing. ‘So they played McTominay at centre-forward quite a lot, but he obviously developed into a midfield player. It’s possible he grew ten inches in a year.”
McTominay has certainly developed into a player with the necessary physicality to play in the Premier League. At the moment, that is where the Beckham comparisons end; not to demean McTominay, but very few players have the natural talent of Beckham.
