Fulham have made a second bid worth around £20 million for Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay, who is also the subject of strong interest from Turkish clubs Galatasaray and Fenerbahce.

United rejected an initial £15m offer from Fulham for McTominay at the start of the summer and the west London club have now returned with an improved bid.

It still falls short of United’s £25-30m valuation of the Scotland international, but there is also competing interest from Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, both of whom want to bring him to Turkey.

Everton are also admirers of McTominay but are unlikely to be able to afford the player amid the uncertainty hanging over the club following the collapse of the Friedkin Group’s proposed takeover.

Fulham have agreed a projected £34 million deal with Arsenal for Emile Smith-Rowe but are in the market for another midfielder following the departure of Joao Palhinha to Bayern Munich and manager Marco Silva rates McTominay highly.

McTominay, 27, has a year left on his existing contract with United, who also have the option to extend by another 12 months to June 2026.

United are hoping to sign a No.6-style midfielder this summer with Paris Saint-Germain’s Manuel Ugarte of interest but are struggling to find buyers for Casemiro and need to raise funds to reinvest in the squad.

Any McTominay sale would represent pure profit on the books given he is an academy graduate.

McTominay – who was one of several players to impress in the 3-2 win over Real Betis in San Diego in the early hours on Thursday – could have left United last summer with manager Erik ten Hag open to his departure.

But Ten Hag ended up being grateful McTominay did not leave with United decimated by injury and the midfielder finishing as third joint-top scorer alongside Alejandro Garnacho with 10 goals.

He has been a valuable squad player to United for years, but the club are now ready to sell if the deal is right.

More injury scares

Having lost new signing Leny Yoro for three months with a fractured metatarsal and Rasmus Hojlund sidelined for six weeks with a hamstring problem, the last thing Ten Hag needed was more injury scares, but both Marcus Rashford and Antony were forced off in the second half against Betis.

Rashford – who was the victim of several poor challenges – hobbled off just before the hour mark after appearing to have a foot stamped on. Antony was then withdrawn just 23 minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute and ripped off the strapping on a hand and threw it to the ground before walking down the tunnel.

Front three lively

In the absence of the injured Hojlund, Ten Hag will have been encouraged by the performances of Amad Diallo, Jadon Sancho and Rashford against Betis.

Sancho impressed through the middle, with McTominay tucked in behind him, while Rashford – who scored a penalty – looked more like his old self, at least until he hobbled off.

Arguably the pick of the attack, though, was Diallo, who was a persistent threat down the right and scored a bullet finish after excellent work from young left-back Harry Amass. The right-wing position is up for grabs at Old Trafford this season and another strong outing from the Ivorian will have done his prospects of claiming it no harm.

‘Baseball’ refereeing

Jose Mourinho complained about the standard of the officials during United’s infamous pre-season tour of the US in 2018.

“The referees they come by mistake – they were called by the baseball federation, thought it was a baseball game,” United’s former manager said witheringly after a 4-1 defeat to Liverpool in Michigan.

In truth, they did not feel much better here against Betis. Alexis Da Silva, a Major League Soccer referee, let a number of fouls go with United players seemingly frustrated with the official’s handling of the game.

Mount’s ‘fresh start’

Mason Mount - a second-half substitute against Betis – is hoping to kick-start his United career after his debut season at the club was plagued by injury problems.

The England midfielder was limited to just five Premier League starts in the wake of his £60 million move from Chelsea.

His struggles saw him drop out of the England picture and miss out on the squad for Euro 2024.

But Mount says he is hoping this season will mark a “fresh start” and a chance to prove his worth.

“I see all the support and it means so much to me,” he said. “I definitely feel this is a fresh start and I’m in a really good position at the moment, so I can’t wait to get on that pitch.

“I can’t wait to try and do the best I can. I’m really looking forward to it. I feel strong, I feel fit, so yeah, we’ll keep going and we’ll keep working hard.”

No sell-out

It was a strangely sparse crowd at the Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego for United’s game with Betis.

With local baseball team the San Diego Padres playing the LA Dodgers at Petco Park a few miles away on the same night, there was always a chance United would struggle to fill the 35,000-capacity Snapdragon. But the turnout was still a disappointment with the official attendance listed as 26,248.

The cheapest tickets were going for £47 with the costliest setting fans back more than £300.

Paraglider styles it out

The match ball for the Betis game was “delivered” in quite spectacular style. Four paragliders swooped in from overhead although the guy carrying the ball looked momentarily like he had come in too quickly and ended up performing an acrobatic knee slide as he hurtled towards the ground.

The game offered United’s new assistant manager Ruud van Nistelrooy a chance to renew acquaintances with Betis coach Manuel Pellegrini. The former Manchester City manager was Van Nistelrooy’s coach at Malaga in 2011/12, the Dutchman’s final club before he brought the curtain down on an illustrious playing career.

Chargers visit

United chief executive Omar Berrada, sporting director Dan Ashworth and club director Sir Dave Brailsford in addition to Ten Hag and members of the first-team squad visited the Los Angeles Chargers’ stunning new training facility this week.

The United delegation were given a tour of the Chargers’ base and a look inside the latest innovations in sports science and technology being used by the NFL team.

Known as ‘The Bolt,’ the facility - which opened in July and is located in the El Segundo suburb of Los Angeles - comprises an impressive 150,000-square-feet, three-storey main building and 14 acres of training pitches.

United are in the process of a £50 million revamp of their own Carrington training base and the visit offered the club a chance to draw some ideas and inspiration, including around driving elite performance.

Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh and kicker Cameron Dicker were among those who took part in the knowledge-sharing session, along with United technical director Jason Wilcox and chief operating officer Collette Roche.

It marked United’s latest fact-finding mission in the US with Old Trafford officials having held meetings with the brains behind the SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park complex, where the Chargers play their games.