JOSE: PUT THE CLUB BEFORE COUNTRIES
Scotland v England ‘not important’
JOSE MOURINHO has told Scott McTominay to forget about representing England or Scotland and focus on Manchester United.
England boss Gareth Southgate and his Scotland counterpart Alex McLeish are both understood to have met separately with McTominay at United’s training ground within the last 48 hours.
The midfielder, who has been a revelation for United this season, was born in Lancaster but qualifies to play for Scotland through his father, who is from Glasgow.
The 21-year-old has yet to be capped for either country at any level and his emergence at United this season has sparked a tug-of-war between the Auld Enemy.
McTominay made his United debut against Arsenal last May and has since played 17 times for the Reds, including starting their last two games against Sevilla and Chelsea.
He is expected to keep his place for Monday’s visit to Crystal Palace, with Mourinho keen for him to put international football out of his mind.
“My advice to him is not about national teams,” said the United boss. “My advice is to keep the way he is – very humble, very open to learn, intelligent, and to keep going in the same direction, trying to fight to have minutes with Manchester United, which is not easy.
“Then the national team will be just a consequence of his work at the club. It’s a consequence of his profile and I think people around him are the right people.
“I’ve never met them, but I have to believe the kid, with his attitude, the parents must be really good people who passed on to him the right values. “The kid has his feet on the ground, he’s very calm and he’s passed some important tests, not just from the football point of view, but from the mental point of view.”
Mourinho confirmed Zlatan Ibrahimovic (left) will leave United when his contract expires this summer – and said the striker must decide whether to quit or carry on playing.
“For Zlatan, we all think it’s his last season at Manchester United and will be a very personal decision for him to play or to stop,” Mourinho added.
“He’s won the right to choose his future. He’s been such an amazing player and had an amazing career that only that awful injury in the wrong moment broke a fantastic couple of seasons he could and should have had with us.”