Man Utd player created insulting nickname for Scott McTominay because he was 'jealous' of his teammate

Scott McTominay was given an insulting nickname during his time at Manchester United by one his teammates.

McTominay is closing in on an exit from the club following 22 years of service after a fee was agreed with Serie A side Napoli believed to be in the region of £25m.

The Scotland international is set to travel to Italy to seal the move after United rejected bids from Fulham that could have seen the midfielder remain in the Premier League.

Erik ten Hag resisted the opportunity to sell McTominay to West Ham last summer and the midfielder enjoyed his best season yet at the club last year, scoring 10 goals.

McTominay has made substitute appearances in all three of United’s competitive fixtures this season and the impending arrival of Manuel Ugarte from Paris Saint-Germain could see his game time limited further.

The 27-year-old has played a key role under a number of United managers including Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Michael Carrick, Ralf Rangnick and Ten Hag.

His willingness to perform and impress the man in the dugout at Old Trafford earned him an insulting nickname from a jealous teammate, as reported by the Manchester Evening News.

It is claimed McTominay was labelled a ‘teacher’s pet’ as a result of his ‘penchant for endearing himself to a new manager’.

One man who will be disappointed to see McTominay depart the club is United icon Sir Alex Ferguson.

Scott McTominay is set to leave Manchester United (Getty)

Ferguson was the man in charge when McTominay was brought to the club and the legendary manager was delighted to see a fellow Scot make the grade at Old Trafford.

He said in 2021: “Scott McTominay is now emerging as one of Man United's big players. When you watch Man United pick their team for a big game, McTominay's name is in it. He's a good character, a great trainer. I know a little bit about the boy and I think that's the background

“I signed him when he was seven or eight years of age and he was actually a centre-forward as a kid.

“He's just sprouted, a little bit like Darren Fletcher – Darren had a few little annoying injuries as he was growing and needed some rest periods and things like that.

“McTominay is of a similar type to Darren – long, lanky, good winner of the ball and a good turn of pace going forward, a great attitude to the game. All these attitudes that Darren Fletcher had, he's got them.

“Even if you go back to my time with Darren, I very seldom left him out of big games, particularly against Arsenal. He was fantastic against Arsenal and [Patrick] Vieira and I had no problems.

“McTominay is going forward on those guidelines that Darren pursued for a long time at United. It's really rewarding for me to see a Scot coming through.”