Ten Hag’s McTominay demand seen in new light after Newcastle transfer response

04 January 2023 , 19:34

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Ten Hag’s McTominay demand seen in new light after Newcastle transfer response

Newcastle are 'keen' on acquiring Scott McTominay - but Manchester United have no interest in offloading their homegrown midfielder, who still features heavily in Erik ten Hag's plans.

McTominay has clocked up over 180 appearances after progressing through the ranks at Old Trafford and featured regularly under Ten Hag this season. However, McTominay has struggled for regular starts in recent weeks after losing his spot to Casemiro, a £70million summer capture from Real Madrid.

The 26-year-old, who has missed United's last two games through illness, has not started a league game since featuring in the Manchester derby back in October and is beginning to attract interest from other clubs.

Scott McTominay has attracted interest from Newcastle United (Getty Images)

According to The Daily Mail, McTominay has admirers at Newcastle, but a January deal is unlikely as United have made it clear that their academy graduate is not for sale.

Even though the Scotland international has slipped behind Casemiro in the United pecking order now that the multi-time Champions League winner has acclimatised to life in the Premier League, recent comments made by McTominay hinted that Ten Hag still views the midfielder as a key part of his plans going forward.

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Speaking before Christmas at a supporter Q&A event, McTominay said that Ten Hag had been pushing him to add more elements to his game in order to muscle his way back into United's starting XI.

And the United midfielder, who has scored two goals in 18 outings this term, revealed that Ten Hag wants him to become more prolific before lifting the lid on how the Dutchman has given him various clips and snippets of advice in a bid to help him increase his output from midfield.

Join the debate! Do you think Man Utd should keep McTominay? Let us know here.

McTominay revealed last month that Erik ten Hag wants him to add goals to his game (Getty Images)

"I should score more goals," McTominay admitted while speaking at the event back in December. "The manager has actually spoken to me about that and shown me little clips and little ways I can be more effective in the game: making assists, scoring goals.

"If you do certain little details, then you can get yourself in those positions more often. I know that I can do it. I’ve always liked to fancy myself that I can score goals and stuff like that, so it’s important I keep practising."

"Whenever the manager speaks to you, you’ve obviously got to listen and take it all on board. It’s really good information that he’s giving you.

He’s like that with a lot of players, where he’ll sit them down and speak through clips of games: saying 'doing this, how you can influence this.' Loads of fine little details that can help players and obviously give them confidence, putting his time into us, personally and not just in a group scenario."

Dan Marsh