Top scoring midfielder 

©TM/IMAGO

Napoli now appeared destined to win Serie A this season after a pivotal weekend with Scott McTominay once again the hero for I Partenopei. After Inter Milan’s abysmal week continued with a 1-0 defeat to Roma on Saturday, Napoli moved three points clear after McTominay’s brace in a 2-0 win over Torino on Sunday.

With just four games remaining, Napoli are overwhelming favourites to win the Scudetto to make Antonio Conte the first ever manager to win three Serie A titles with three different clubs. Conte has transformed Napoli’s fortunes after finishing 10th last season during a woeful defence of their first title win in 33 years. Big name stars have departed Naples in Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia but a new hero has emerged at the Diego Maradona stadium.

Scott McTominay: Napoli’s new hero

McTominay has acclimatised brilliantly to the demands of Italian football and his athleticism has been pivotal to his success. Few players in Serie A can match McTominay’s running power and physicality with Conte modifying his trademark 3-5-2 formation to allow the Scotland international to flourish in a 4-3-3. McTominay’s brace against Torino made it 11 league goals for the season and that’s the most from any midfielder in Serie A, with only four scoring more across the top five leagues.

Crucially, McTominay has scored goals in decisive moments with the winning goals in Napoli’s last two league games in the midst of a title race – the Scot has scored five of Napoli’s last six goals. The 28-year-old has also opened the scoring for Napoli in seven games this season and he’s now registered the most goals in a single Serie A season from a Scottish player, overtaking Denis Law’s record of ten in the 1961/62 campaign. McTominay is already a huge popular member of the Napoli dressing room and will enjoy legendary status amongst the passionate Naples fans if he inspires them to the title.

Speaking after the Torino triumph, teammate Leonardo Spinazzola said: “You can see the player he is, I can only say that he is a special guy, golden, always smiling and happy, an incredible worker. We are so lucky to have him. From the first day, we’ve been working with incredible dedication. It’s only right to believe, to fight for this objective, because it has been such a long journey. We know how hard we worked to get here.”

Manchester United regret over selling Scott McTominay?

Naturally, McTominay’s success at Napoli has led to considerable social media comment over whether Manchester United should regret selling him this summer. Erik ten Hag fought to keep McTominay at Old Trafford but the hierarchy ultimately decided to cash in on the academy graduate, as he represented pure profit in terms of PSR. United banked €30.5 million for the midfielder, which helped fund a move for Manuel Ugarte but it’s difficult to argue against Napoli coming out best from the deal – McTominay’s current valuation on Transfermarkt is €40m.

 As the graphic above illustrates, Man United’s goal scoring problems this season are galling and McTominay has comfortably outscored any of his former teammates. There is, however, a great deal of revisionism over McTominay’s time at Old Trafford. While the boyhood United fan’s professionalism and application was exemplary, McTominay had limitations to his game and didn’t warrant being an automatic starter, as he undoubtedly is at Napoli – although McTominay is more suited to Ruben Amorim’s style. Ultimately, it was the right time for all parties to move on this summer and McTominay deserves all the acclaim that his performances in Italy merit.