I can understand that POV. I haven't seen much of Gordon, McTominay is a bit underwhelming, but Howe is usually a good judge of a player. Realistically both players would improve on what we've got, and I imagine even if Gordon's not got the skillset of ASM, he's probably going to fit the team ethos better. Both players would.
They will improve us, just not sure they are CL quality, certainly McTominay isn't.