Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was publicly critical of a transfer deal agreed by Manchester United decision-makers INEOS, ahead of a potential return to Old Trafford. Solskjaer is in the frame to succeed Darren Fletcher as United’s interim head coach after tonight’s trip to Burnley. The Norwegian last managed United five years ago with interim Ralf Rangnick, Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim having all failed since then.
And United are set to rely on Solskjaer in a time of need once more following the sacking of Amorim. But only last year, the 52-year-old expressed his disbelief at the sale of Scott McTominay to Napoli. Solskjaer was the manager of Turkish club Besiktas at the time and admitted he was baffled by United’s decision to let academy product McTominay leave.
The Scotland international joined the Serie A giants for £25million and has since grown into one of the best midfielders in Italy. He was named Serie A Footballer of the Year after leading Napoli to title glory with 12 goals and six assists in 34 matches and finished 18th in the list of Ballon d’Or nominees above Jude Bellingham, Erling Haaland and Virgil van Dijk.
In May, Solskjaer – who handed McTominay 115 United appearances between 2018 and 2021 – told BBC Sport: “Scott and Fred together, they were lads you would put your hat on every day to give 100 per cent. How you can sell Scott is beyond me.”
The 29-year-old is no one-season wonder either. McTominay has five goals and four assists in 25 games across all competitions with the Naples club sat third in Serie A, two points behind leaders Inter Milan. He has been labelled a “more complete and knowledgeable” player by his manager Antonio Conte.
McTominay also scored crucial goals to help Scotland qualify for the upcoming World Cup, scoring a late winner at home to Belarus as well as a spectacular overhead kick opener in the crucial win over Denmark at Hampden Park in November.
Speaking to CBS Sports last month, the Scot said of his exit from United: “It’s just too easy of an excuse to say ‘oh they left Man United and now they’re doing well’. In my last year [at the club] I did well.
“I scored 10 goals and we won a trophy. Because the spotlight is directly on you, it makes it seem a lot worse in my opinion. When players go away and play more games they’re going to have an increase in confidence and feel better about themselves rather than playing fewer minutes at Manchester United for example.
“When you are at United, you have to earn those minutes like Bruno Fernandes, who has done incredible. Potentially [a change in environment helps] but there’s also some players who leave who people don’t speak about so much. Some everyone speaks about. It depends on the individual.”
McTominay – who made over 250 appearances for United before leaving – added: “For me I think it’s too easy an excuse to blame Manchester United as a club. Whenever I was there they did everything for me. They helped with my nutrition, they helped me with training, they helped me tactically, whoever the manager was there.
“Everything is put there for you to succeed. It’s not like they don’t give you things that other clubs do. The myth of they go away and they become better players comes down to confidence.”
Solskjaer won’t get to reunite with Solskjaer, or his former striker Marcus Rashford, but will be confident he has enough at his disposal in Manchester to lead United back to Champions League football.