Defying expectations and limitations placed upon him is part of what makes Tyler Fletcher so popular with players and coaches that have worked with him.
So, to see news of his call-up to Steve Clarke’s World Cup squad met with such scepticism will have come as no surprise to the player or those who know him best. It’s just the latest misconception that he has to correct.
Externally, the 19-year-old is easy to dismiss. With just 17 minutes of senior football at Manchester United, radio shows, podcasts, column inches and social media across Scotland all asked, why Fletcher? How can it possibly be Fletcher and not Lennon Miller? Is this just because of his dad?
Then you speak candidly to his team-mates, to coaches, executives, and it becomes clear that nobody inside Manchester United, nor inside Scotland’s camp, doubt him. If they did, it likely only took a single training session to rectify that.
‘Underrated? Maybe,’ Travis Binnion, now on Michael Carrick’s first-team staff but then speaking as Fletcher’s Under-21’s boss, told academy reporters last year.
‘But he’s not underrated by the staff, the club and the players. He’s excellent and, like his brother [Jack], he’s got loads more to come.’
Tyler Fletcher has come from nowhere to make Scotland’s 26-man squad for the World Cup
So, when a beaming Kenny McLean lit up when asked about his early impressions of Fletcher, the response was textbook. Fletcher had proven himself — again.
‘I can’t speak highly enough of him,’ McLean beamed. ‘I said to the lads after his first session, “I can see something special in him”. So I was glad he got on [against Curaçao] after the week he’s had.’
Let’s be crystal clear that despite representing England at Under-16 level — the nation his twin brother continues to represent — Tyler is proudly representing Scotland since choosing them from 16 and up.
Eager to beat his dad’s total number of Scotland caps, Fletcher is a man on a mission, but one with an earlier start date than even he could have anticipated just a fortnight ago.
As the sons of 80-cap Scotland international Darren Fletcher, contrary to popular belief, nothing would come easy to Jack or Tyler.
Impressive long distance runners in their early school days, many of their sporting achievements have been tainted with comparisons to their dad, as well as jibes over nepotism. It’s an unfortunate by-product of coming from sporting greatness that has pockmarked their rise. It’s lazy analysis that simply doesn’t tally with the reality.
Fletcher was plucked from Manchester City’s academy set-up to join his father at United
‘He’s been the biggest influence in my life and there’s no better person I could ask for advice,’ Tyler said of his dad earlier this year.
‘He just tells me to keep working hard and enjoy it. A football career goes so fast and you just have to enjoy every moment. That’s what he tells me.’
When Manchester United paid £1.25million to get them out of Manchester City, where they spent their formative academy years, in 2023, questions were asked. Was this not just a favour to their dad, who enjoyed rich success at United for many years?
At that time United sources stressed that the signings were only being sanctioned because staff genuinely believed both could make it into the first team, despite external scepticism. The fact both have since made their senior club debut, and Tyler now a senior international debut, has repaid their faith in kind.
There would have been doubts, too, when, after just two appearances, Norman Whiteside was called into Northern Ireland’s 1982 World Cup squad.
But when it comes to Fletcher, many seem to want to wave away his selections, his squad inclusions, his awards and his endorsements as nothing more than favouritism.
Tyler featured in a 2024 adidas commercial with Scott McTominay and now the pair are team-mates in the United States for a World Cup.
Fletcher was in Scotland’s squad to make up numbers but played 45 minutes against Curacao
Fletcher was recently crowned United Under-21’s Player of the Season, an award that, in truth, he was worthy of last season, too.
Much of his high-level performances, which he stacks back-to-back-to-back, are ignored and replaced with comparisons to his dad, to his twin brother, to others such as Phil Foden and Cole Palmer, who are alumni from the same St Bede’s College Full Time Training Model (FTTM) which Tyler graduated from three years ago. At every turn, he has had to work overtime for outsiders to take him seriously.
Internally, that ability has never been in doubt. It is why reports that he dazzled in training with Scotland over the past week are not surprising in the slightest.
One of the biggest compliments any former coach or mentor gives to Fletcher is his work ethic.
A conscientious youngster who attacks every training session with maximum intensity and professionalism, it is one of the key reasons he made such an impression on the Manchester United first team this season.
United captain Bruno Fernandes is one of his biggest champions, while Casemiro and Lisandro Martinez, two of United’s most hard-to-please trainers, are also big fans of the 19-year-old.
Fletcher trains in Florida beside Ben Gannon-Doak as the summer showpiece fast approaches
Lots of players oscillate between youth teams and the first team and shaking off the ‘academy player’ tag to become a bona fide first team player is not an easy one. It is why the next few weeks present Fletcher with a golden opportunity to do just that.
The player affectionately known in the United dressing room as ‘goaty’ — a nod to the limited facial hair on his chin — has put together a genuine case for first-team minutes at United next season, and now has the opportunity, if given a chance, to light up a major tournament.
Two of Fletcher’s biggest strengths, playing deeper as a No 6 or more progressive as a No 8, are his bravery in wanting the ball and the fact that he rarely ever performs poorly.
Where others — including his twin brother — can produce more stand-out moments and those more eye-catching highs, Fletcher, so often unruffled by the moment, brings a greater consistency than most on and off the pitch.
Those who know him best speak of a quietly confident character who is continuing to come out of his shell as a leader. The gargantuan expectation of a World Cup won’t faze him.
What comes next really could fall anywhere on the spectrum. Light up a World Cup and catapult yourself to superstardom, all but solidifying a significant role at United on your return, and the world is at your feet.
Fletcher hardly put a foot wrong against Curacao, though he was booked for a poor tackle
A loan move may yet prove a favourable pathway too with the list of clubs keen on him growing by the day.
Falkirk were interested last summer, while this time around Kilmarnock boss Neil McCann made a public plea on television in a bid to strengthen Killie’s case.
‘I’m already on to Darren to see if I can get him on loan next season,’ McCann quipped.
But one thing is abundantly clear and John McGinn, stood a few feet away from Fletcher on the tarmac at Glasgow Airport on Monday, said it best.
‘He’s not here to make up the numbers,’ McGinn said.
As Fernandes and Co quickly discovered in Manchester, no, he absolutely is not.
