Newcastle United retain a healthy interest in Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay. Fans are divided but after his show for Scotland last night, they may be starting to take notice.
The general reaction when Scott McTominay‘s name is mentioned as a potential summer transfer target is fairly negative. Many fans feel he’s not an improvement on what we already have at Newcastle.
The Scotland international isn’t a regular starter for Erik ten Hag‘s side. In his 18 Premier League appearances this season he’s only completed a full 90 minutes in five. He’s also not registered a single goal involvement in any Premier League appearances for Man United.
McTominay isn’t known for his goals but he grabbed two for Scotland
He has chipped in with goals and assists in other competitions, having one goal in the Europa League and one goal and an assist in the Carabao Cup.
The lack of goal involvements is down to him being primarily a defensive midfielder, which is why Eddie Howe is looking at him as he covets a strong pivot to allow Bruno Guimaraes off the leash a bit more next season.
You wouldn’t know he was a defensive midfielder last night, however with his first goal for Scotland being a pure striker’s finish. Collecting the ball from a Lyndon Dykes cushioned header, McTominay took one touch with his knee to bring it under control before unleashing a fierce shot into the roof of the net.
His second was a lot more straight forward prodding home an effort from 10 yards after defensive scramble.
Newcastle fans will still need convincing
Fabrizio Romano acknowledged the Scot’s goal contribution on Twitter while reinforcing Newcastle’s interest in the player Jose Mourinho once called ‘special’.
A couple of Scotland goals against Cyprus might not be enough to win over the Toon Army, however. It hasn’t moved me on the subject as I think there are better options out there for us. However, I do keep coming back to the fact that we’ve been keeping tabs on him for a while so Howe must see something in him that we’re not getting yet.
In Eddie Howe we trust.