Scott McTominay has won Napoli fans so quickly that for some supporters he has already achieved a larger icon status than the famous Napolitan pizza.
“Napoli. McTominay. Pizza. In that order, a huge club flag reads on the wall of one restaurant by a fan.
It sounds dramatic, but it is the honor of McTominay that he has wrapped the fan base for his little finger within six months after member of Manchester United.
The feeling is mutual. Mctominay is fascinated by the city and the club. He had a glowing start of life in Italy next to his girlfriend, Cam Reading, an asset manager.
In the southern city of Naples, where the average summer temperatures hiss up to 31 degrees and the center is a UNESCO world heritage, there is a world of possibility for the lovebirds to explore.
There are also boundless possibilities on the field, with Mctominay one of the most important men behind Napoli's Serie A Title Tilt under Antonio Conte. They currently lead Inter Milan at a point.
While the pair enjoyed a canat and looked over the coast of Amalfi in September, Reading on Instagram stated that they had already “fallen in love with Italy.” They were in a restaurant on top of a medieval tower opposite the south, while the Mediterranean Sea sparkled with the late summer promise.
A fan in the commentary part NESYNCHRONIZONIZONIZONIZED TO READ THE 'QUEN OF ITALY' and you can argue that Mctominay is on his way to becoming the king.
The Scot has already scored seven goals, including a counter -title Rivals Inter and another within 25 seconds against Como near the start of the season.
Manchester United misses the goals he has beaten in the last campaign – 10 in total – and he could well surpass that in the blue strip of Napoli this period.
The Italian press cannot stop streams over him. “The new leader of Napoli,” Corriere Dello Sport greets him in December. “Idol van de fans, loved by his teammates,” they also scribbled. La Gazzetta Dello Sport sees him as a practical thing not to make: “A immovable pawn on the Napoli chessboard,” they wrote.
It helps that Mctominay has familiar faces that are available. Former United teammate Romelu Lukaku is the top scorer this season, who scored nine goals.
He also has one of his good friends from the Italian national team, Billy Gilmour.
The duo spent time together at Christmas alongside Gilmour's Staffordshire Bull Terrier Buddy, with Mctominay in a historic Napoli kit.
He chose the sweater of 1987-88, a close to the hearts of Napoli fans because Diego Maradona used to wear it. That season Gli Azzurri was only able to finish second, but there was no doubt that it was a great team that had done double years before.
McTominay would have become quite emotional when seeing the statue of Maradona for the first time in the stadium of the same name, clear respect for the glorious past this club.
Conte takes the development of his players to heart and ensures that the couple is integrated as well as possible by teaching them Italian.
“The coach has been really good. Of course I don't speak Italian yet, and I have to learn, but he helped me in training, “Gilmour told Dazn earlier this season.
McTominay also said: 'Italian is not easy, because I speak quickly. But when I listen to people in Italian, they speak very quickly!
“I (have) picked up small pieces in training sessions, the hotel, in the city.”
The 28-year-old fans with a little linguist Twirl in January when he wanted to read Happy Birthday in January-in Italian.
“Buon Complexno, Tutto Il Mio Amore Nel Mondo,” he wrote. In Scottish: “Happy birthday, all my love in the world.”
It is not exactly clear when or how Mctominay and reading crossed for the first time, but at least they have been together since the summer of 2023, when they were depicted on a boat trip in Greece.
Reading, a director of Fortress Capital Partners of Asset Management, has seen her personal celebrity rise at the time and zooms from 10,000 Instagram followers to more than 60,000.
According to La Repubblica they moved to a house of Lago Patria, a kustmeer near the outskirts of Giugliano.
Mctominay can be quickly at the sea after he has been knocked out of his door and is just about a 20 -minute drive from the Napoli training center.
Reading has taken the most out of the beautiful cities and the countryside of Italy, enjoying trips to Florence, Capri and Positano, a steep local fashion capital by the sea where the Rolling Stones once wrote their song 'Midnight Rambler'. She and McTominay also have dinner in the shadow of Milan's large cathedral.
You would think it was a big call to leave United, after he has been to the club since 2002. In his last season, McTominay expanded his reputation. He was no longer just a reliable loyal, but something of a talisman.
In the end, however, he did not lose much sleep during the call. He said: 'The pride of playing here is really special and when I found out that Napoli was interested in me, I felt the fire in me.
'I wanted to come here and push as much as possible because the fans are crazy, I would say they are some of the best fans I have ever seen. Incredible.
“I can't talk enough about the fans, the people, the city and the welcome that my teammates and coaches have given me.”
He also said to BBC Scotland: 'It was a big decision, but in some respects it was fairly simple.
'I saw the passionate fans, I saw the coach, I saw the players and I saw a chance.
“I took it. I didn't look back. It wasn't long to make the decision because I knew that was what I wanted and I will never regret my life.
“I love this place. I love the fans, I love my teammates. It was a pleasure to be with Billy every day instead of seeing him in Scotland and we helped each other a lot.
“It was friendly. I think it is great that Football Club (United) to Bits, they have been my life for 22 years, but I have now continued. I really enjoy myself here. '
It seems to be a match made in the stars. McTominay kissed the badge after scoring his first goal against Como in September and they have flowed since then.
In fact, it emerged the other day that this season he has more competition goals than Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee combined. Not bad for an edition of £ 25.7 million, given Hojlund and Zirkzee Cost United £ 108.5 combined.
Of course he needs the move to adapt. A few weeks after his move, reports in Italy claimed that McTominay was 'risk' for his diet and that he would be a note every day and instruct him what he can and cannot eat at home.
Conte is a supporter of the 'Bresaola diet', which means that fried food, mozzarella and alcohol are firmly from the menu, while a Mediterranean menu of vegetables and protein-rich white meat such as turkey and chicken is on the table.
It has worked for Lukaku in the past and seems to have worked a treat for McTominay – even if he cannot put in the Napolitan pizza, he is elevated above by fans.
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