Scott Mctominay has moved from the sidelines in Manchester United to Center Stage for Napoli after winning his first league title in an excellent debut season in Serie A.
The midfielder of Scotland has a good claim for player of the season in Italy after he has become the pivot of the midfield of Napoli under Antonio Conte, who gave him the seniority and the position he had never had in United since he brought the youth arrangement.
A seasoned international football player, Mctominay, had to leave one of the largest clubs in the world, not only to taste really success, but to become the driving force behind it, after winning one FA Cup and a competition cup in eight seasons as the first team player at Old Trafford.
Thirteen goals and four assists in all competitions are proof of how quickly McTominay adapted to life in Naples, a city he has taken with pleasure and Italian football.
“It is a beautiful country, it is actually somewhere where I have not been all my life, which is surprising because I love the culture here, I love the food, I love the way people are, they are so hospitable,” said McTominay in a recent interview with Dazn.
“It has so many amazing different cities, of course, Naples because I am the number one. Being able to experience all of that with the people here, is incredible.
“Hopefully people can see that I give everything every time I go on the field. That's all you can do as a football player.”
MCTominay is called “Mcfratm”, which means “mcbrother” or “mcbro” in Napolitan, by the local boy Pasquale Mazzocchi, a nickname he even manages higher than “McTerminator” and “MacGyver”.
'Braveheart'
Those nicknames are proof of the level of affection that McTominay more or less of the believers of Napoli had from the moment he got off the plane at Capodichino airport in Naples to complete his Deadline Day of United last summer.
Hundreds of fans were waiting for it and then welcomed him on arrival in a traditional Naples for the 28-year-old.
But few people, possibly beyond Conte, could have imagined such a big impact in August when Napoli hurried to sign players to calm their famous fiery manager.
Napoli was already won 3-0 in Verona in their opening campaign when McTominay together with Romelu Lukaku and another shot, Billy Gilmour, arrived with the season.
The ghost of the disastrous defense of their scudetto from 2023 was still around the training area of ​​Castel Volturno.
But towards the end of October, Napoli was top of the division and involved in a three -way title battle with Inter Milan and Atalanta, and Mctominay was the core of almost everything they did.
At that time, fans had already renamed Mctominay “Braveheart”, and he was soon immortalized in a mural of the kind that reserves Napoli supporters for their favorite players, the most famous for Diego Maradona.
And now McTominay may have emulated the biggest football player ever by bringing Scudetto Joy to Naples, while he became the player, he never got the chance to be in United.