One Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United players is enjoying a superb year at international level – and Alex McLeish would love to see him replicate that form at Old Trafford

Erik ten Hag has been told to play Scott McTominay in the No.10 role (Image: PA)

Alex McLeish has urged Erik ten Hag to deploy Scott McTominay as an attacking midfielder for Manchester United.

McTominay, 26, has spent most of his career playing as a box-to-box or defensive midfielder, scoring just 22 goals for the Red Devils. Yet he’s flourishing in the No.10 role for Scotland, finding the net seven times this year to fire his country to Euro 2024.

McLeish, who played under legendary United manager Sir Alex Ferguson at Aberdeen, believes Ten Hag should copy Scotland boss Steve Clarke and play McTominay in a more advanced role. He insists there’s “no shame” in altering McTominay’s position.

Ten Hag already has several attacking midfielders at his disposal, including captain Bruno Fernandes and £60million man Mason Mount. But United have struggled in attack this season, scoring just 13 Premier League goals. That’s one fewer than Nottingham Forest.

“That’s why I wondered why Manchester United and Ten Hag didn’t take a leaf out of Steve Clarke’s book in terms of what Steve’s done with him,” McLeish, who is also a former Scotland manager, told BBC Radio Scotland.

“He’s played him in the back three also and as a holding midfielder, but as an attacking midfielder, it seems to be more of his niche. So your thinking, maybe when he goes back to Manchester United, Ten Hag will play him in an attacking, forward role.”

Former Premier League boss McLeish went on to explain: “There’s no shame in what Ten Hag thought his best position would be. But you can learn from other things and, for me, he should have looked at the way Steve Clarke has been playing him.”

McTominay has enjoyed some success in front of goal this year ( Image: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)

McTominay’s attacking talents have been more prominent at Old Trafford this season. The academy graduate has already bagged three goals in the Premier League, including a brace in United’s last-gasp victory against Brentford in October.

Deploying McTominay in an advanced role could be career-defining decision for the midfielder. He’s struggled to nail down a spot in the starting XI since breaking into United’s first-team squad in May 2016, spending a lot of time on the bench.

McTominay, who turns 27 next month, may decide to consider his long-term future if he doesn’t become one of United’s star players soon. Fulham and Newcastle were both interested in signing the Scotland favourite during the previous transfer window.

McLeish thinks his compatriot can offer Ten Hag a “chaos element” that the likes of Fernandes can’t. The experienced coach explained: “He makes these late runs into the box, you’ve seen him in his goals for Scotland as well, he’s just a little bit of a chaos element inside the penalty area, he turns up and can use his physicality to make things happen.”