David Moyes has revealed he regrets missing out on Scott McTominay last summer ahead of Scotland's Euro 2024 clash with Hungary.
The former West Ham boss wanted the Manchester United midfielder to replace Declan Rice, who moved to London rivals Arsenal.
Yet the Hammers ended up missing out on the 27-year-old, who would end up staying at Old Trafford and becoming a key player for Erik ten Hag.
Moyes, who has since left West Ham behind, has now admitted he was disappointed by the club's failure to recruit the United star.
David Moyes has revealed he regrets missing out on Scott McTominay last summer ahead of Scotland's Euro 2024 clash with Hungary
BBC/PA
"Lots of managers have hard luck stories about players that get away and McTominay is one of those for me because I tried to sign him for West Ham last summer," he told the BBC.
"It was always going to be hard to replace Declan Rice with any one player when he joined Arsenal, and we were not planning to do that - we wanted to bring in a couple of midfielders instead.
"We bought two really good players in James Ward-Prowse and Edson Alvarez, so that was the cover, but Scott was certainly one of the players we had a big interest in as well.
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"He is a good all-round midfielder, but to me his best attributes are arriving in the area, or the edges of it, at the right time to score or make some chances.
"McTominay was a player who I felt I needed at the time, but we didn’t quite get it over the line and he went on to score a lot of big goals for Manchester United last season instead."
McTominay has already made his mark at Euro 2024 this summer.
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The midfielder netted in Scotland's 1-1 draw with Switzerland earlier this week.
It looked as though that would be the only goal of a tight game, only for Xherdan Shaqiri to net a brilliant equaliser.
Moyes thinks McTominay can be the difference tonight as Scotland look to make the round of 16 at a European Championships for the first time.
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Scott McTominay has already made his mark for Scotland ahead of their crunch Euro 2024 clash with Hungary
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And he's also backed the United star to become his country's all-time leading goalscorer, too.
"In the past couple of years, the Manchester United man has been really important to Scotland because he can play in several different roles," he said.
"It was not too long ago that McTominay was as used as centre-half under Steve Clarke for a period but, more recently, he has played higher up the pitch – which is where I feel you get the best out of him.
Scott McTominay stayed at Man Utd with the Scotland star helping his club win the FA Cup last season
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"When I watch him, it is his goals that stand out. He has got plenty of them for club and country in big games in the past few months, so many that it makes me think that he might end up being Scotland’s top scorer.
"At the moment that is definitely the part of his game that we need the most.
"Scotland have not really offered much of a threat so far at Euro 2024 and McTominay gives us the best chance of doing that on Sunday, in a game we probably need to win to reach the last 16."
