Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay certainly benefited from various injuries and absences last season, with the Scottish international making 23 appearances for Jose Mourinho’s side due to absences to the likes of Paul Pogba, Ander Herrera and Nemanja Matic at various points in the campaign. But McTominay, a product of United’s youth academy isn’t taking anything for granted as the new season begins.
“I could be 35 years old, move to a new football team and still wouldn’t be established,” said McTominay to Manutd.com. “Even if you’re like Michael Carrick and you’ve won everything, you still have that hunger and want to impress everybody in every training session. That’s just the way I’ve been brought up through the Academy – it’s having that relentlessness to go and perform in every training session and every match. I need to kick on, I’m 21 years old and want to prove myself.
“The main thing for me is always wanting to play as much game-time as possible and being ambitious to really kick on again. I can forget last season; that was the season where I did well, played a few games and made a bit of an impression, but now’s the time to work even harder than I already have to really cement myself in the squad and hopefully get myself into that starting XI. I’ve got to do my best in the future because obviously people forget about the past and it’s always about the present moment in time. I think that’s one of the most important things for me.
McTominay also echoed the sentiment that fans have heard from several of his teammates, namely that the club expect this coming season to be hugely competitive.
“The competition this season throughout the whole league – never mind the top six – is going to be immense. It’s an opportunity for us to really make a statement that we are one of the best teams in the league, if not the best team in the league.”
