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Scott McTominay has revealed the brutal piece of advice Jose Mourinho gave him in his very first training session.
McTominay came through the ranks at United and signed his first professional contract in 2013.
Mourinho gave him his debut against Arsenal in the 2016/17 campaign and he then went on to play 23 times in the following season.
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The Portuguese manager loved the midfielder so much that he invented his own award and named him his 'Manager's Player of the Year'.
However, he learned an early lesson from Mourinho after a training session where he felt the referee was biased towards the experienced players.
McTominay argued with Michael Carrick and Ashley Young and was "dressed down" by his manager, who told him the importance of first impressions.
Speaking on the High Performance Podcast, he said: "When I first went over, maybe at the start of the 2017 season, I was going over to train with Jose and there were a lot of lads on international break.
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"Refs [in training] are always a little bit biased to the first team vs the young lads and I was losing my temper, raising my voice a little bit too much.
"It's probably the right thing to do but also wrong thing to do. I was arguing with some of the older players - [Michael] Carrick and [Ashley] Young - and I was just saying you're getting all the decisions, no wonder we're losing.'
"Mourinho spoke to me and said you need them to like you you can't make them think you're a ******.
"He dressed me down to be fair and said who do you think you are, you've done nothing.
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"It turned out a couple of months down the line the fitness coach told me Jose was just testing you out and I knew it. It was nice to hear [positive words] and that he was trying to test the group."
Mourinho also advised McTominay to "follow his heart" and represent Scotland internationally - which endeared him to his family members.
Mourinho was sacked in December 2018 following a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool and the dismissal was tough for McTominay to take given what the former Chelsea boss had done for him.
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The two are still in contact and McTominay will forever be grateful.
He added: "As he was leaving, I walked into his office. I was gutted. It was hard, like, this guy meant so much to me and gave me all my dreams and now he's gone.
"I just said thank you so much for the opportunity you've been a real life legend for me. Good luck for what you do next.
"We've kept in touch since. I'm so grateful for him. The power of self-belief. He instilled that in me."
Featured Image Credit: Getty & High Performance PodcastTopics: Scott Mctominay, Manchester United, Jose Mourinho