Keane, Solskjaer at odds over McTominay amid ‘concrete’ Man Utd interest in ’emotional’ return | OneFootball

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is “shocked” Scott McTominay was sold by Manchester United amid the Red Devils’ ‘concrete interest’ in re-signing the midfielder from Napoli.

McTominay made 255 appearances for United, including 115 under Solskjaer in his time at Old Trafford, before moving to Napoli in the summer of 2024.

The Scot was named Serie A Player of the Year in his debut season as he helped Napoli to the Scudetto, and a report on Wednesday claimed United have ‘concrete interest’ in his return and are preparing an ’emotional bid’ to re-sign him.

And Solskjaer is surprised he was allowed to leave Old Trafford and wouldn’t have been sold in the Sir Alex Ferguson era.

“I was almost shocked because you need or want a core of the local lads, ones who get the club. Scott did,” he said on the Stick to Football podcast.

“For me, I think he’s shown in Italy how good of a player he is. His character, personality around the place, he sets the standards and he’d survive when we played 100 per cent.

“He was voted Serie A Player of the Year last year and won the league with Napoli so he’s one of them that you only know when you’ve got him, how good he is and how important he can be.

“In my squad, Scotty probably wasn’t allowed to play in his best position enough, yeah [because of] Bruno and maybe the lack of physicality that we had.

“You saw a couple of games against Leeds, we said: ‘Scott, this is a man-to-man game, we want you running through as a third man,’ and he scored, two or three, I can’t remember how many goals he scored against Leeds. That’s probably a reason because we think of him as… he’s one of the eights. Great physicality.”

But former United captain Roy Keane believes his £30m sale was “not a bad deal” for United.

Keane said: “I’m always wary when lads leave, for a club like Napoli now but it’s a different challenge to Man United and he’s done well.

“Good luck to the lad but I still wasn’t hanging my hat on him every week going, ‘He will be the lad that will bring Man United back.’ When you’re classing him as a squad player and someone says, ‘Here’s £30m,’ it’s not a bad deal.”