Ex-Man Utd boss reveals "selfish decision" he made involving Derby County | OneFootball

It seems Derby County missed out on the chance to complete the signing of Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay back in 2019.

That's after former Red Devils boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted that he blocked the Scotsman from moving to Pride Park for more game, time a decision he admits was a "selfish" one.

What has Solskjaer said about McTominay's blocked move to Derby?

Previously a legendary playing figure for Manchester United, Solskjaer endured a somewhat less successful spell as manager at Old Trafford, between December 2018 and November 2021.

It was at that point McTominay was breaking onto the fringes of the senior squad with United, which is of course, a point in their careers where many young players will head out on loan in search of game time, to further aid their development.

Ultimately, McTominay himself never made such a move, and has spent the whole of his club career to date, with Manchester United.

However, it seems things could have been different, had Solskjaer not taken the decision to stop the midfielder moving to Derby back in 2019, for his own benefit.

Reflecting on that decision involving a potential loan move to Derby for McTominay in an interview with The Athletic, Solskjaer said: "I made one selfish decision — to keep Scott McTominay when he could have gone on loan to Derby in 2019 to play more football.

"We kept him, we played him and after beating PSG away when he and Fred played well at the base of midfield, I think we did the right thing. Scott’s a Man United player through and through.”

What situation were Derby in when McTominay could have joined them?

While they are now a League One club, the Rams were still competing in the Championship, even going close to promotion back to the Premier League during the second half of the 2018/19 season, when they were beaten by Aston Villa in the play-off final, while under the management of Frank Lampard.

There were a number of players on loan at Pride Park from big Premier League clubs at that time, including then Chelsea duo Mason Mount - now a teammate of McTominay's at Old Trafford - and Fikayo Tomori, and Liverpool's Harry Wilson, who is now playing in the Premier League with Fulham.

Could McTominay have made a difference for Derby if he had joined?

You do feel there may be a few associated with Derby County left with a sense of "what if" around this transfer.

While he is not at the level of some of the very best United have had over the years, McTominay is still a solid operator at Premier League level, while he has also excelled on the international stage with Scotland in recent times.

The quality he has shown with those performances, does therefore seem to suggest that he would have had the ability to make an impact in the Championship for Derby, even back then.

As a result, you do get the feeling that he could certainly have helped in their push for promotion back to the top-flight, had he been allowed to make the move to Pride Park.

Even so, given the pressure he was under at Manchester United, you can understand why Solskjaer may have felt he had to what was best for him here, to ensure he got the results he needed to try and retain his position at Old Trafford.

The 2019/20 season