Honest question: What are the top 3 clubs you think would buy McTominay if he wanted to move today?

Arsenal would probably have him. West Ham and Newcastle definitely would.
 
Liverpool as a squad player, Arsenal as a starter, any mid table team as a starter.

He's better than what the Caf think,
 
He’s not nearly as bad as many people here imply. Newcastle, West Ham, Southampton would (and should) probably be interested if he was available for 20-25 million. Couldn’t say the same for many of our players.
 
Fulham, Forest maybe. Championship sides certainly. Scottish premier as well. Certainly not good enough for a top 10 club.
 
West Ham & Everton are the first two that spring to mind. Maybe Palace as the third.

I think he’d do great in a lower PL team that doesn’t want to dominate the ball
 
West Ham, Everton, Palace. Not all, but I think that the majority of sides outside of the top 6 would take him. In my opinion he isn't good enough for a top 6 club.
 
I think Brighton would take him for a reasonable price. Brentford and Forest would probably be the only other PL clubs that might want him. All the other teams have better midfielders
 
Reiver said:
Rangers or Celtic might go for him.
Click to expand...
I’d doubt it. He’d be a useful player to have in the squad, but would face more of the same challenges he struggles with at United in executing a quick possession game for teams that dominate the ball. Fundamentally both teams have better CMs.
 
Everton, WHU and Newcastle but he would slide down the table pretty quick and before he's 30, he would be in the Championship.
 
The same 3 clubs that would buy Curtis Jones from Liverpool.
 
I would guess Jose would take him at Roma.

In the PL I honestly think he would get in most teams with an established DM and therefore played a little further up to pitch.

He (like most) had a poor season last year but imo he showed some real qualities during the previous 2 seasons.
 
At West Ham he would be competing with the likes of Soucek in that box to box midfielder role. Soucek can score goals and is a physical specimen, if a bit slow, but his passing is probably worse than McTominay. A bargain Fellaini.
 
I genuinely think it would be a bottom half side and he would be ok for them but not one of their best players.
 
Dazzmondo said:
I think Brighton would take him for a reasonable price. Brentford and Forest would probably be the only other PL clubs that might want him. All the other teams have better midfielders
Click to expand...
Erictheking7 said:
West Ham
Roma
Brighton
Click to expand...

If there’s one club that wouldn’t touch him it would be Brighton. They won’t look to spend big on a midfielder who cannot pass to his teammates.
 
Lentwood said:
The problem some of our supporters have in objectively assessing the abilities of our squad members is that they forget that it's immeasurably more difficult to perform the CM role or the CB role or the full-back role for a team like United, as opposed to a club like Wolves or Leicester.

Even if we leave aside the pressure and the expectation and the fact that every opponent raises their game against you - there's just so much more demanded of you in terms of being able to keep the ball under pressure, pick passes through the lines and cover bigger spaces defensively.

That's why, harsh as it might sound, I instantly disregard posters as having a credible opinion if they make statements like 'McTominay would only be bought by Forest' or 'nobody would want Maguire'.

If you put McTominay in a mid-table scrapper side, he'd look good. Put him in a side who are supposed, in theory, to have most of the ball and were the CMs are meant to be 'press-resistant' and forward-thinking and he struggles at times.

His biggest issue, for what it's worth, is that he can't play on the half-turn. This comes from playing for years in the Academy as a CF or AM*. He doesn't have those 'eyes in the back of his head' that top CMs develop through years' of practice and he doesn't receive the ball at the right angles to be able to quickly turn into space and move the ball through the lines. He knows this too, by the way, and that's why he hides and doesn't show to receive the ball from the back four.....because he isn't comfortable.

Of course, this is incredibly difficult to do at Premier League level. Scholes was a master of it, but look at virtually any player likely to pop-up in central areas at City and they're all superb at it.

* I know and have played with a few lads who were in the United Academy at like U-11s/U-12s etc....they say that even at that age, the coaches drill them relentlessly on 'twitching', which involves practising looking over both shoulders as the ball is fizzed into you. The ability to do this at speed plays a large part in what level you can achieve as a midfield player. Anybody from semi-pro upwards can strike a nice ball and make a nice pass....but can you do it a ridiculous pace under pressure from the best players in the World....? Not many can.
Click to expand...

100%.

Its not only McTominay. None of our central midfielders (barring Bruno if you consider him an option at #8) excels at twitching. Bruno is able to play quick, early passes into the channels because he's already scanned the pitch and knows where every option is. Now, sometimes, he gets it wrong. However, even last season you had the outside of the foot first time pass to Rashford against Atalanta and a the back heel assist to Ronaldo etc.

Ten Hag, I suppose, will try to compensate for this by a) buying and b) shape work. So that players instinctively know where their teammates are likely to be before they receive the ball. Hopefully this can 'teach' McTominay. However, I think you're right. He didn't train the necessary skills at a young age and now he's 26.

Anyone, doing anything, when they're under pressure will default to habit. This is as true for football as anything else. When you're on a Premier League pitch, in a United shirt, playing at a speed most of us can't even conceive of, you don't really have time to think. You just do the things you've done hundreds of times before. What we see with McTominay, and others, is just that. Fight or flight response kicks in and you just do what you've habitually done many, many times in the past. That's why he so often doesn't take up the right positions to advance the ball etc. I'm not convinced he'll be able to become the #6 we need but, obviously, I hope to God I'm wrong.

I think he'd be much better served as a box-to-box midfielder, doing the pressing and advancing, where he can rely more on his attacking instincts. However, he'll never be good enough to do that for our team. At that I could see him doing a Soucek like role. But not a Tielemans type role or a Moutinho typo role. So I think he'd be midtable.
 
He's bang average but let's not underrate him, he'd probably walk into most teams in the bottom half of the PL table. Everton and Leeds would love to have him right now.
 
Newcastle
Liverpool (probably wouldn't bother since they know we would never sell to them)
West Ham
 
I think he'd do a decent job in a counter-attacking side that doesn't expect to have much of the ball.

Brentford, Palace, Newcastle and West Ham could all find a place for him I reckon. Everton (lowest possession numbers in the whole league last season) and maybe Leeds/Saints (his engine would be pretty useful), too.
 
Blood Mage said:
He's bang average but let's not underrate him, he'd probably walk into most teams in the bottom half of the PL table. Everton and Leeds would love to have him right now.
Click to expand...

Quite the paradoxical statement.
 
Bottom half to mid table would sign him but don't think he'd excel at all.

It's alright people saying that we underate our players blah blah blah but the same was said about James by many last summer.

The PL is a high standard and players struggling at top clubs(if we qualify) don't automatically improve lower team's anymore.
 
Probably at a push Arsenal and below. If not Arsenal then anyone who finished below us last season would take him. In Europe anyone outside the elite clubs. So outside Madrid, Barca, PSG, Bayern.
 
Surprised so many have mentioned Arsenal. Arteta seems to be trying to recreate Man City lite side and I think McT wouldn't fit anywhere near those plans. Newcastle, Everton, Leeds or a promoted side would probably be a good opportunity for him to be close to a guaranteed starter.

I do think a number of sides have as good if not better CMs that he wouldn't necessarily be a guaranteed starter at most PL clubs.
 
Ghostrider318 said:
Probably one of the newly promoted teams

WHU have Rice
NU have money so theyll go for someone better
Click to expand...

Every team needs depth mate, especially those pushing for consistent European football like West Ham want to do.

With Kral leaving (presumably they aren't going to sign him permanently as he was shite and barely played) and Noble retiring, I'm quite sure they literally don't have another player in the first-team squad who can the positions Rice and Soucek occupy.
 
This is exactly the type of topic where a large majority of posters on here have a conflicted way of looking at things. I'll hazard a guess that many or all posters that are routinely critical of a player like McTominay have also been very vocal about what they perceive to be a complete lack of quality coaching at the club for the last few seasons.

Wouldn't a logical train of thought be to conclude that this lack of quality coaching would affect a players performance level quite considerably? I would think so, especially in the middle of the pitch. Therefore, wouldn't it be fair to McTominay to cut him some slack or, if that is too much to ask here, then at least agree to give him a season under Ten Hag to see what they are capable of?

McTominay has a lot of tools that a coach like Ten Hag might want to work with. He is a powerful presence on the pitch, able to physically dominate opponents and is actually a better passer than many give him credit for. He could easily also become a 10 goal a season centre midfielder which brings value. The criticism of him mainly seems to stem from him not being available for the ball. Fair enough, I've seen evidence of that myself. However that sounds like the sort of thing that could easily be remedied by a quality coach, and by playing in a structured system when he is more secure about where he needs to be.

This question would be more relevant next summer. If Ten Hag can't get a tune out of him then it would be fair to say he should be playing for a midtable or lower club.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.