Scott McTominay is the leader of the Scotland squad, with former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho ultimately proving crucial to the midfielder choosing the Scotland squad ahead of England.
Scott McTominay has come a long way since making his Manchester United debut under Jose Mourinho. And it was ‘The Special One’ who set McTominay on the path to Scottish heroism during his time at Old Trafford.
McTominay, whose recent heroics in a Scotland shirt helped them qualify for their first World Cup since 1998, may no longer be a United player, but he was a star at Napoli and was named Serie A’s best player last season after moving abroad. However, it was clear from his time in the Premier League that McTominay was a talented player.
Mourinho understood that and even felt that England were taking too long to call him up from a national team perspective. And when manager Gareth Southgate failed to act immediately, Mourinho instead sought to let Scotland know the door was open.
McTominay was eligible to play for them thanks to his father, who was born in Helensburgh, and Alex McLeish was the Scotland manager at the time. When he sensed an opportunity, he wasted no time heading south of the border to make his point, even if the weather threatened to beat him.
“Looking back, I think all of us Scots should give Jose Mourinho a little bit of gratitude. He said in an interview that England were in danger of missing out on the Scot and that I should get in touch with him at the first opportunity!” he told the Telegraph.
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“So I arranged to go to United’s training ground to meet him and Scott. There was only one problem: The Beast from the East was raging at the time and I barely made it in time!”
“I arrived in York at 3am and was seriously thinking about turning back at that point, as the weather was just too bad. I ended up at a hotel in Manchester Piccadilly, but I was so late that I was treated as a no-show! It was already 4am and I was worried I would run out of rooms. Luckily, they found me a room!”
More than repaying that faith, Mourinho appeared to be a man determined to give Scotland every opportunity to appeal to McTominay for the midfielder. He scored the opening goal on Tuesday night, one of 14 goals in his international career, which will prepare him for his first World Cup campaign.
MacLeish continued, “I called Jose later that morning and said, “Come over at 12 o’clock, let’s have lunch and talk about Scott, and then I’ll take you to your room.” He couldn’t have been nicer.”I could sense that Scott was enthusiastic, but it was still pretty He came in and was very clear in his mind that he wanted to represent Scotland. I think he was grateful that I was going to meet him, but he said, ‘This is one of the most rewarding trips I’ve ever taken. It is no exaggeration to say that it was one. ”
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