Scott McTominay has talked about the harsh piece of advice Jose Mourinho gave him at Manchester United during his first training session with the Portuguese coach.

The 27-year-old playmaker has been with the Red Devils since he was a child, and he has spent 21 years of his life there.

Since making the first team in 2017, the Scot has played 233 times and scored 25 goals at Old Trafford.

Kevin McTominay talked about life under Mourinho on Jake Humphrey’s High Performance Podcast. He also talked about how important the manager has been to his progress at Manchester United.

When Mourinho was at Roma, he taught McTominay from 2016 to 2018. On Tuesday, Mourinho was fired by the big Italian club.

During a first-team session, McTominay had a chance to show Mourinho what he could do while other stars were away on international business. The young player left training wondering if he would ever be invited back.

He told the story and said, “When I first went over, maybe at the beginning of the 2017 season, I was going over to train with Jose, and a lot of the lads were on international break.”

It’s always a little unfair for the refs to favor the first team over the younger players, and I was getting angry and raising my voice too much. 

Maybe it’s both right and wrong to do what you want to do. I was disagreeing with Michael Carrick and Ashley Young, two older players. I told them, “You’re making all the decisions, that’s why we’re losing.”

No matter how hard you try, people will still like you. You can’t make them think you’re a jerk. He put me down and asked, “Who do you think you are? You haven’t done anything.”

After a few months, the fitness teacher told me that Jose was only trying me out, and I already knew that. It was good to hear good things and understand that he was testing the group.

With five goals already this season, McTominay is now seen as an important first-team player by Erik ten Hag, who took over as manager of Manchester United last summer and had planned to sell the playmaker.

According to McTominay, Mourinho has had a big effect on his career. He also said, “You just can’t get carried away because you can get humbled so quickly.” I’m glad Jose came and gave me a chance.

“I owe him a lot, and my family loves him.” Always, I always wanted to play for Scotland because of my grandfather. Jose told me to follow my heart when I was going to play for Scotland. I’m always available to talk about any choices.I went into his office as he was leaving. I felt terrible. It was hard because this guy was so important to me and helped me reach all my goals. 

“I just want to say thank you so much for the chance. You’ve been an inspiration to me in real life.” Have luck with what you do next. Since then, we’ve kept in touch. I’m so thankful for him. The power to believe in yourself. That was something he taught me.