Easy to say that now. I recall both his time in our academy and the time of those I’m referring to. He showed no more ability than Ben Pearson, Matt James, David Jones, Ryan Tunnicliffe, Larnell Cole and co who never got a look in here. If he was let go instead of, to everyone’s surprise, brought into the squad by Jose - we would have been talking about Rotherham at best or SPL.
I think if we drew Ben Pearson’s name and said ‘you will be in the squad for the next few years, he’d have had good games and bad games, he’d have been ‘useful’, he’d have run and tackled and been told that he ‘gets it’ when the fancy foreigners are not standing up. Same goes for others. However, the bar was above him. Josh Harrop was far more talented than Scott McTominay for example.
You say ‘just because he doesn’t have a touch (or passing, or dribbling for that matter) of Gomes like it shouldn’t matter if he doesn’t. That’s the point. Angel Gomes isn’t the first or only young player to have that level of talent. It’s not an exceptional level that top clubs shouldn’t necessarily require. The likes of Foden, Nelson, Gibbs-White and a number of others also have this level of talent, which is why they are the ones selected from their academies to progress. If you don’t have the ability of Gomes that is fine too, but then it’s not mandatory for you to be given a chance at United, I thought only that tier of talent gets a real chance taken on them at the biggest clubs. The rest often join a smaller team.
The point with Gomes, and Rossi, Pogba, Januzaj and co is that most youth players don’t get the luxury of a proper crack at the United first team unless they are in this bracket. I’m not suggesting McTominay could not be a professional footballer or anything, or even a PL one. I’m saying that I don’t expect Mark Noble to come through a United academy either. There’s no point in me listing the things Mark Noble is ‘good’ at. He isn’t good enough at them, is the point - not to be given a chance at Manchester United anyway. And if he was, then the same could be said about so many other players at a similar level. That’s my point with Scott. I see no exceptional talent at all to explain why he plays for Manchester United and not Bournemouth. Most reserves don’t get a proper crack. The Gomes we speak of may not make it here given the chance. I’m just saying that it is a lot more obvious to me why he should have been given that chance than a Scott McTominay. He’s an upper level talent, not a mid-level. Other ‘good’ ones like Daelhi, Eikrem, Buffonge have not gotten a shot. DJ Buffonge doesn’t have less footballing talent than Scott McTominay, and if I were him I’d watch Scott and feel I were entitled to a chance at United too, if he is.
