Not the best start, this. Already been exposed as a lazy clickbait bias agenda nonce journalist and it’s honestly difficult to argue.
Instead, Erik ten Hag has a five-time European champion collecting dust on his bench while McTominay surreptitiously drains Casemiro of his lifeforce. The Scot will be dropped at the slightest hint of a fall in standards but this stay of execution has lasted far longer than anyone expected and now the intrigue as to what Manchester United could look like with a proper screener has dissipated.
Reece James is doing well enough, albeit with a couple of customary hitches. Ruben Loftus-Cheek is back in the picture. Armando Broja looks bright. And things might change soon under Graham Potter. But Trevoh Chalobah has disappeared, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ethan Ampadu are out on loan and Chelsea have started to lean on experience once more. The academy cannot afford to fade back into obscurity – and with the talent it is producing, it really shouldn’t.