Newcastle United journalist Craig Hope has revealed that the Tyneside club are still interested in Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay.
The Magpies have been linked with a move for the midfielder in the past, most notably during the previous summer transfer window.
And with McTominay struggling for minutes of late, some behind-the-scenes details have emerged regarding Newcastle’s interest in the Scotland international.
In a recent Twitter post, Hope had this to say on the matter: “Also told Scott McTominay retains admirers within Newcastle, but message from Man Utd is they want to keep him at Old Trafford.“
This season has seen the 26-year-old make 19 appearances for the Red Devils across all competitions but only start nine of them.
Despite still having admirers at Newcastle, McTominay’s league efforts this season have not warranted such admiration, in our view.
For example, with 191 passes completed, only 11 of them have been progressive, meaning that he’s not the sort of player that gets the ball moving to players ahead of him up the field.
In addition to that, only four players at United have lost control of the ball after being tackled by an opponent more times than McTominay (7), which suggests that he can be somewhat careless in possession.
Would you like to see Scott McTominay at Newcastle?
Yes
No
As well as having the joint-highest number of yellow cards at United (5), the midfielder’s overall league performances this season have earned him a rather underwhelming average match rating of 6.54/10 from WhoScored, making him one of the lowest-rated players at the club.
Taking all of this into account, it’s probably good news for Newcastle that the Red Devils want to keep hold of the midfielder, as it would be hard to see how he would improve Eddie Howe’s side.
Moving forward, we feel that Newcastle should forget about potentially signing McTominay and instead focus on other midfield options they may want to sign in the future.