When Sir Alex Ferguson Advised Jose Mourinho To Play Scott McTominay

Manchester United fans have a lot to thank Jose Mourinho for after Scott McTominay's Man of the Match winning performance on Saturday evening but they've also got Sir Alex Ferguson to thank.

The Scottish midfielder's stock has risen over the last few months and he's now an integral member of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team and won the MOTM award during the weekend's Manchester derby.

It was Mourinho who first brought McTominay into United's first team, and created and end of the season club award for the 23-year-old.

However footage from March 2018 seems to show Fergie telling the 'Special One' to play the midfielder:

The incident happened at a memorial service for the Munich Air Disaster at Old Trafford, with Fergie talking to the player before stopping to have a chat with the them United boss.

It came after the United youth product had played against Huddersfield Town in the Premier League and many fans believe Ferguson was telling Mourinho to play McTominay more often.

Following the game against the Terriers Mourinho spoke about McTominay, saying, "I made a few changes thinking about the characteristics of this game and I think this kid [McTominay] has a great desire to recover the ball when the team is not in possession."

"He's a kid that chases the ball, that tries to recover high up the pitch and when he has the ball it is always simple and against opponents like Huddersfield, so close and with so many bodies behind the ball, the simplicity sometimes is genius."

McTominay celebrates United's win. Image: PA Images

Now McTominay is showing those tendencies and more on a weekly basis as his game has improved with each week in the past 18 months.

He's had injury problems this season but his return to action this week has coincided with a return to form for the Red Devils, with wins against Spurs and Manchester City.

With Paul Pogba having been out for much of the season McTominay has become the most important midfielder in Solskjaer's team.

It's incredible to see how far the midfielder has come in just over 18 months in the first team, and he's got a lot to thank Sir Alex for.

Topics: Manchester City, Spurs, Football News, Jose Mourinho, Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson, Fergie, Premier League

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

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