Scott McTominay has won the Serie A title with Napoli.
Scott McTominay has won the Serie A title with Napoli.
In the same week that Manchester United fell short in the Europa League final, Scott McTominay rounded-off a sensational debut season in Italy by winning the Serie A title.
McTominay said farewell to Old Trafford last summer after coming through their academy. Napoli paid £21million for his services with a potential £4.2m in add-ons. Under 12 months later, it proved to be one of the best transfers of the season.
The midfielder scored 29 goals in 255 games for United - despite being played outside of his natural position at times. This season, he has bagged 13 goals and, on Friday night, he scored the first in Gli Azzurri's 2-0 win against Cagliari, crowning them champions of Italy.
Napoli, who won the Serie A title in 2023 owing in the main to Victor Osimhen's goals, have turned a page under Antonio Conte. The signings of David Neres, Romelu Lukaku, McTominay and Billy Gilmour all had question marks over them, although they no longer exist now.
At the time, a switch to Naples made sense for both McTominay and United. Manuel Ugarte arrived to boost Erik ten Hag's midfield from Paris Saint-Germain - after it was established that more "grit" was needed in the middle of the park.
The Uruguay international has done well in his first season but Ruben Amorim - who didn't sign him but worked with him at Sporting CP - kept him places on the bench on Wednesday night. McTominay wouldn't look amiss in this United team.
"When I got into the first team, I was quite mis-profiled in where I was playing," he said in an interview with The Athletic. "It wasn't the fault of any coaches. My strengths have always been getting into the box, scoring goals, being a problem in there. But I was being used as a No.6, or as a centre-back, and that has never really been my game.
"But when you're playing for Manchester United, and you're 20-years-old, you can't knock on the manager's door and say that you expect to be playing at No.8 ahead of Paul Pogba, it's not realistic. You have to know your place, and do what you're asked to do. In the last few seasons, I began to get into the box a bit more, and to score more goals, and then last year was my best one."
If McTominay was in this current United team, then his quality would be there to demand a place in his preferred position. In fact, he's the latest player to leave the club and have success away from Manchester.
Dean Henderson, Mason Greenwood, Alvaro Carreras, Antony, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Elanga have all impressed once they have left the club. McTominay, who maybe wasn't a player many would have liked to see stay, has proved in the last season that he is - perhaps - the biggest transfer mistake made by Ineos.
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