Scott McTominay and Harry Maguire of Manchester United
Erik ten Hag could be forced to rethink the sale of Scott McTominay this summer due to an injury to young midfielder Kobbie Mainoo.
The Scotland international has been heavily linked with a move to West Ham United as David Moyes looks to bring in a replacement for Declan Rice.
The Hammers are the only Premier League club to have still not made a signing in the summer window and it now seems that could continue.
As reported by TEAMtalk, West Ham have already held talks with Man Utd over signing McTominay.
Man Utd have already begun looking for replacement options, too, with Fiorentina midfielder Sofyan Amrabat agreeing on personal terms with the Red Devils.
Along with Amrabat, the highly-rated 18-year-old midfielder Mainoo is expected to get opportunities in the first team under Ten Hag this season. The manager reportedly decided against loaning the youngster out after an impressive performance in a friendly against Arsenal recently.
Mainoo could have helped to fill the void left by McTominay’s potential departure. However, an injury picked up in pre-season could scupper Ten Hag’s plans.
West Ham receive double transfer blow from Man Utd
According to the Telegraph, Mainoo’s injury has thrown a ‘spanner in the works’ in regards to McTominay’s move to West Ham.
The report suggests Ten Hag could rethink his transfer strategy and decide to keep McTominay at the club as a result.
Last season the Scotsman was used infrequently by Ten Hag as he made just 10 starts in the Premier League. He did feature in 39 matches across all competitions, although plenty of his minutes came from the bench.
With that in mind, a move away from Old Trafford could be the best thing for McTominay’s development. It now appears, however, that the deal with West Ham could be off.
Interestingly, transfer expert David Ornstein recently cast doubt on another proposed transfer to West Ham, too.
Harry Maguire has also been linked with a move to the London Stadium. The defender was relinquished of the Man Utd captaincy by Ten Hag recently and he has been linked with a departure for some time.
However, it now seems the manager could keep Maguire at the club for another season.
“I don’t think West Ham are going to push harder for the time being,” said Ornstein while appearing on Sky Sports News.
“Their £20m offer was made on the basis that Maguire’s salary is very high for them. They probably can’t go much further [for Maguire] in terms of what else they’re trying to do.
“I think for the time being Maguire intends to stay and fight for his place. Would he want to go to West Ham is a question we don’t know [the answer to] in all of this.
“There are suggestions that he’s got really high expectations if he’s to leave Man Utd [regarding] where he might go.”
