Scott McTominay has revealed the brutal piece of advice Jose Mourinho gave to him during his first training session under the Portuguese coach at Manchester United.

The 27-year-old midfielder has spent 21 years of his life at the Red Devils after beginning his youth career with them in 2002.

After breaking into the first team in 2017, the Scot has since scored 25 goals in 233 appearances at Old Trafford.

Speaking to Jake Humphrey on his High Performance Podcast, McTominay discussed life under Mourinho and shared how valuable the manager has been to his Manchester United career.

Mourinho, who was sacked by Italian giants Roma on Tuesday, coached McTominay at Old Trafford during his tenure between 2016 and 2018.

Scott McTominay has opened up on the brutal first training session he had with Jose Mourinho

The manager gave McTominay a ‘dressing down’ after he ‘lost his temper’ with the first team

With several stars absent on international duty, McTominay was given a chance to prove himself to Mourinho during a first-team session – and the youngster ultimately left training wondering if he would ever be invited back.

Sharing the anecdote, 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.

‘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 cant 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.

‘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.’

With five goals to his name already this season, McTominay is now viewed as an important first-team player under current Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag, who was initially planning on selling the midfielder last summer.

Insisting Mourinho has made a huge impact on his career, McTominay added: ‘ You just can’t get carried away because you can get humbled so quick. I was lucky he [Jose] came and gave me my chance.

‘I owe him a great deal and my family love him. When I was going to play for Scotland, because I always wanted to play for Scotland for my grandpa, Jose was always saying go with my heart. I’m always here for any decisions to talk about.

The 27-year-old midfielder has spent 21 years of his life playing for Manchester United

Mourinho, who won the Europa Conference League with Roma in 2021 (above) was axed by the Italian giants on Tuesday after enduring a torrid spell and leading the club to ninth in Serie A

‘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.’