Jose Mourinho played a key role in Scott McTominay opting to play for Scotland, according to former national team manager Alex McLeish.
McTominay was born in Lancashire but qualifies for Scotland through his Helensburgh-born father.
He made his international debut against Costa Rica in 2018 and his goalscoring has made him arguably Scotland ‘s most important player.
The 27-year-old has 11 goals from 55 caps, including scoring six times in five games as Scotland qualified for Euro 2024.
His first Scotland appearances came under McLeish – during his second spell in charge of the national team – as the midfielder established himself in Mourinho’s Manchester United squad.
“It was kind of crazy,” McLeish told BBC Scotland’s Sacked in the Morning podcast about his first meeting with McTominay.
“Steve Clarke would have got him anyway I’m sure, but Jose Mourinho said ‘Scott could play for Scotland and wants to play for Scotland so Alex McLeish should come down and sign him up’.
“So I went down. It was during that ‘Beast from the East’ weather. I went to Edinburgh and was going to get a train to Manchester Piccadilly from York, but they decided the train would only go as far as Newcastle.
“Fortunately I got another train to York but by then it was three in the morning and I was seriously thinking about turning back. But I thought I’d got that far so I would continue.
“I got to the hotel at Piccadilly and the guy said ‘you are down as a no-show’. I thought I had no room at 4am! But he found me one, I phoned the club in the morning and Mourinho said ‘come at 12, have lunch – we will talk about Scott then get him in the room’.
“Jose was very accommodating and very adamant Scott should play for Scotland. Jose was my chief scout!
“Scott came in and said ‘I’ve thought of nothing else other than playing for Scotland’. When I heard those words I thought ‘we have a player’.”
McLeish’s knowledge of McTominay’s academy backstory means his former manager is not as surprised as some by the Napoli player’s prowess in front of goal.
“He’s the real deal, a sensational player – and a goalscorer,” added the former Scotland and Aberdeen defender.
“When I was trying to bed him into the national team in a midfield role he was still learning from Manchester United players. He didn’t have all the answers but did have the potential
“And he was a striker as a kid in the academy, so he has that knack of scoring.”
In a much-travelled managerial career that included Motherwell, Hibernian, Birmingham City, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest, McLeish was also in charge of his boyhood club Rangers for five years.
He accepts the Ibrox team are currently trailing Celtic but has backed Philippe Clement to catch their rivals – if he gets better players in his squad.
“He doesn’t have the quality in the team that I inherited at Rangers from Dick Advocaat and he is trying to build that,” he added.
“They are a little bit short in terms of where Celtic are, and it hinges on the recruitment.
“If Rangers can get that tighter then they will surely be a big challenge. Clement has a lot of kudos. I like him. I’ve met him and I like the cut of his jib. I hope he can take Rangers to better things.”
