Manchester United look set to lose one of their first-team players this summer, with Football Insider reporting that Scott McTominay wants to exit the club during the transfer window.
The midfielder has been in and around the Red Devils' starting eleven for about seven years now, having really broken into the reckoning for them back in the 2016/17 campaign. That year, at just 19 years of age, he played in 17 Premier League outings for the club and his appearance tally has only grown since then. The Scot has since turned out on 143 occasions in the top-flight, 99 of which have been starts.
He's been used frequently again this season, with 23 appearances in the league. However, under Erik ten Hag, he has struggled to establish himself as a starter on a regular basis as he has in the past, with only ten starts to his name. It means that this campaign has seen the least amount of action for McTominay since the 2019/20 season.
Now, it appears that he could want out of United, with a report from Football Insider stating that the midfielder wants to leave the club during the summer window. He has told friends that he plans to try and exit Old Trafford in order to get more regular minutes, with the player well aware that he needs to be getting onto the field a lot more.
In addition, with other midfield options potentially coming into the equation, there is every chance he could fall even further down the pecking order, and with the Scotland man desperate for minutes, that would be a further blow to the player.
The Red Devils then could finally bring an end to McTominay's stint at the club this transfer window. Having come up through the ranks at Old Trafford, it would be sad for them to see one of their own youth team players leave, but it could work out better for player and club.
The 26-year-old has proven that he can still deliver when called upon by Ten Hag though, and it suggests that more regular action could get the best out of him again. For example, for the club this season, he has still averaged 1.4 tackles per game, a better rate than Fred, Raphael Varane and Christian Eriksen, showing that he remains one of their best options in terms of standing in front of the defence and stopping opposition attacks.
He's been lauded in the past for his abilities too, with football journalist Josh Bunting commending him for one of his previous performances by admitting he had been a "standout" for the side when thrown onto the field, whereas he was also once hailed as a "physical monster" by former boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The midfielder can still do a good job in the centre of the field - so if he does leave United for first-team football, it could be a good move for the player if he can get regular minutes and show his footballing abilities. If they did let him go too, CIES Football Observatory suggest his value could be around £26m, so United could also fetch quite a respectable fee.