McClair 'can't fathom' why Man Utd sold McTominay

Scott McTominay (top, second from left) and Brian McClair (bottom, fourth from right) in 2014

Brian McClair "can't fathom" why Manchester United chose to sell Scotland midfielder Scott McTominay to Napoli this summer.

The midfielder, 27, has already scored twice in eight appearances for the Italian club and has netted 11 times in 56 Scotland matches.

He left boyhood club United in August after 29 goals in 255 games.

Earlier this week, United parted with manager Erik ten Hag and are looking for their fifth permanent boss in 10 years.

"For me, it's a big disappointment that he's not still at Manchester United," said former Old Trafford favourite McClair on the BBC's Sacked in the Morning podcast.

"I can't fathom why on his performances when he played and when has played he's been very good for Napoli. For Scotland he's been a revelation."

Former Scotland international McClair coached McTominay as a youth at Old Trafford and says the versatile midfielder "was written off so many times in his young life as a footballer player".

"He grew really weirdly," McClair explained. "His legs grew but he had a body that was tiny. You needed to wait for him because you knew he had the other attributes.

"You knew that if he got the physicality, he would be an athlete. He's got a good character. He's a decent idea about how to play the game. He's got a good temperament. After that, it's down to him.

"He's the one if you say, 'listen, I need you to play right-back or left-back today', they just go and do it.

"He has the resilience and certainly the mentality to deal with negativity."