Manchester United have already signed a ‘beast’ who could become the new McTominay

Scott McTominay is undoubtedly certainly one of Manchester United’s greatest academy graduates’ success tales since leaving the membership.

The Scotland worldwide has shone with new membership Napoli, taking part in a key position in serving to his nation qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

The 28-year-old at present has 50 appearances for the Italian giants, scoring 17 targets and offering seven assists. He grew to become a hero on the membership final season, main his crew to the Scudetto title, successful the Serie A MVP award and likewise being nominated for the Ballon d’Or within the course of.

Ruben Amorim did not have an opportunity to work with him at United, however it might have been very fascinating to see how he makes use of him.

How Amorim was ready to make use of McTominay at Manchester United

Curiously, McTominay has had a number of totally different roles below Napoli supervisor Antonio Conte. He has performed as a No. 10, a box-crushing No. 8 and even on the left.

Properly, if Amorim had had the possibility to educate the Scottish participant, he may need used him as quantity 10 within the notorious 3-4-2-1 system. The United academy product has nice instincts within the field and excels at lining up at centre-back.

If he finally ends up taking part in larger up below Amorim, he’s more likely to spend extra time within the field.

After all, one other space the place McTominay would match naturally into Amorim’s system can be as a quantity eight. On this position, he might have nonetheless crashed into the field and made a late run to fulfill the top of a cross from the wing-back.

Off the ball, his physicality would have been a handful. That’s maybe finest illustrated by his 1.85 aerial duels per 90 minutes final 12 months, which positioned him within the prime 11% of midfielders in Europe’s prime 5 leagues.

After all, we’ll by no means actually know the way McTominay would have slot in below Amorim, however there are gamers within the academy who may very well be thought of variations of the Portuguese supervisor himself.

Scott McTominay at Amorim

Through the years, United’s acclaimed academy, Carrington, has produced some excellent expertise. McTominay is one trendy instance of this, and the Purple Devils are nonetheless stuffed with sensible expertise.

One in every of them is Sekou Kone, who may very well be thought of the second coming of McTominay.

Soccer scout Antonio Mango sees the Mali youth worldwide as a participant who may very well be “a beast below Ruben Amorim”.

Kone, 19, has already damaged into the primary crew because of the United supervisor, who clearly sees him as having the expertise to present him that chance. The midfielder was an unused substitute in three Premier League video games final season.

By way of his performances within the academy, the 5ft 9in midfielder has proven nice versatility and one eye on purpose. He made 14 appearances for the Purple Devils Beneath-21s, scoring two targets and appearing as a pivot as a quantity 10, very similar to McTominay did at Napoli.

The match the place Kone really introduced his presence was the 2023 U-17 World Cup.

He helped lead Mali to 3rd place, creating 10 possibilities and registering two assists, making him one of many standout gamers within the competitors.

It’ll actually be fascinating to see how far Kone is from his first-team debut.

The 19-year-old can play in a number of totally different roles and his capability to make an affect within the ultimate third might pique Amorim’s curiosity.

It is easy to see how he is the second coming of McTominay. Regardless of being smaller than the Scotsman, he’s a flexible midfielder who can dominate bodily and rating targets.

He’s positively an thrilling prospect for Amorim and United.