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As quoted by the club's official website, Nicky Butt has lauded the development of Scott McTominay, and urged him to continue to progress as a box-to-box midfielder.

What did he say?

The Scotland international has become a mainstay in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's line-up this season, playing the full 90 minutes in every single Premier League game barring two - against Crystal Palace and Southampton respectively.

The 22-year-old has also notched three goals and an assist, and Butt has revealed he has been left suitably "impressed" by the academy product.

United's head of first-team development said: "I’ve been impressed. We’ve had so many going in and doing well in different parts. Scott has now become established, even though he’s still a very young player. He’s doing really well.

"Scott’s now trying to develop his game into the player he was in the younger teams, when he scored goals, got into the box and dominated. He has embedded himself into the squad now and he’s become one of the first names on the team sheet. He’s done that bit, which is hard: settling in, not making too many mistakes, keeping it simple. Now the next step is getting back to being a box-to-box midfielder, getting goals, stopping goals at the other end."

Rapid rise

Really breaking through into the United first-team set-up under Jose Mourinho - he played 31 times under the Portuguese manager - McTominay has come on leaps and bounds under Solskjaer in the past year or so.

As per Whoscored, he is averaging 2.3 tackles, 1.3 interceptions, 1.7 shots and 0.8 key passes per game in the Premier League this season. In the previous top-flight campaign, those numbers were down at 0.6, 0.9, 0.9 and 0.1 respectively. The levels of improvement in just a season is quite staggering, and that is a testament to the work McTominay must undoubtedly be putting in.

Already a permanent fixture in the United team now, the 6 foot 4 powerhouse could hold down a place in the Red Devils' midfield for many years to come.