On his first day of training with Jose Mourinho at Manchester United, Scott McTominay was given some tough advice, which he has since talked about.

The player, who is 27 years old, has been with the Red Devils since he was a child. He has lived there for 21 years.

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

Kevin McTominay talked on Jake Humphrey’s High Performance Podcast about what it was like to work for Mourinho. He also talked about how the boss has helped him get better at Manchester United.

From 2016 to 2018, Mourinho taught McTominay at Roma. The big Italian club fired Mourinho on Tuesday.

While other stars were away on foreign business, McTominay had a chance to show Mourinho what he could do with the first team. As the young player left practice, he wondered if he would ever be asked to come back.

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

When the refs favour the first team over the younger players, it’s not always fair, and I was getting too angry and yelling too much.

Doing what you want might be both right and wrong. I didn’t agree with Michael Carrick and Ashley Young, who are both older players. It’s because you make all the choices that we lose, I told them.

People will still like you no matter what. They won’t think you’re nice. “Who do you think you are?” he asked me as he put me down. “You didn’t do anything.”

The gym teacher told me after a few months that Jose was just trying me out, but I already knew that. It was good to hear good things and know that he was trying the group.

Ever since Erik ten Hag took over as manager of Manchester United last summer, McTominay has scored five goals this season. The new manager now sees him as an important first-team player.

McTominay says that Mourinho has made a big difference in his career. Besides that, he said, “You can be humbled so quickly, so don’t get too excited.” I’m thankful Jose came and let me try.

“My family loves him and I owe him a lot.” My grandpa made me want to play for Scotland all my life. When I decided to play for Scotland, Jose told me to do what felt right. I’m always happy to talk about any options.I went into his office just as he was leaving. I felt awful. I had to work hard because this guy was very important to me and helped me meet all my goals. 

“Thank you so much for the chance. In real life, you’ve been an example to me. Good luck with what you pick up next. We’ve kept in touch since then. I’m so grateful for him. Being able to trust yourself. He taught me that.