In light of the $52 million West Ham transfer rumors, Antonio wonders if the Man Utd player can “outlive” Ten Hag.
This could be the season Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay “doesn’t see himself outliving” Erik ten Hag, according to West Ham forward Michail Antonio.
The Scotland international has been in and out of Ten Hag’s side since the Dutchman took control of the club at the beginning of last season.
Ten Hag oversaw a positive first season in charge which saw Man Utd reach an FA Cup final, win the League Cup and finish in the top four of the Premier League.
But with the Red Devils having their worst start to a season since 1986, before they beat Brentford 2-1 on September 7, Ten Hag is now under pressure to start McTominay, who came off the bench to score twice against the Bees.
The midfielder has also been in sensational form for his country with the 26-year-old scoring six goals in six Euro 2024 qualification matches for Scotland this year and was recently denied a seventh by VAR in a 2-0 loss to Spain.
And West Ham forward Antonio thinks McTominay is currently showing his quality and suggested the Man Utd midfielder may have to leave Old Trafford if he doesn’t get increased playing time.
“Obviously you see the qualities that he has and everything that he brings to the team,” Antonio told The Footballer’s Football Podcast. “A few games last year, you could see how well he is and the position that he plays. Obviously we wanted to take him in the summer.
“He definitely has the qualities to play in the Premier League, it’s just every manager has their philosophy and the way they want to play. It’s one of those things that in football, managers just feel you are the one for them or not. Sometimes you outlive a manager, sometimes you don’t.
“It’s just whether he’s willing to stay around to see what happens – whether he’s going to get some more actual minutes and keep pushing himself – or this season might be the season where he doesn’t see himself outliving him [ten Hag] and moving on somewhere else to show what he can do. Coming off the
bench and giving them their win like that, that’s the best way to show the qualities that you have and what you bring to the team.”
There have been rumours that West Ham are still interested in McTominay after having a £30m bid rejected in the summer transfer window.
Caught Offside suggested on Wednesday that West Ham could now be willing to pay €60m (£52m) for McTominay when the transfer window reopens in January.
However, they are citing Spanish publication Fichajes – who are quoting an apparent article from The Athletic – but a search of McTominay on The Athletic‘s website shows no results showing a similar suggestion.
West Ham – who have made a profit of €10.59m in 2023 on transfers – are still likely to be interested in McTominay but it seems unlikely they would almost double their offer from January for a player who is still struggling to get into the Man Utd starting XI.
