Scott McTominay won Serie A with Napoli and established himself as a club hero in Italy under Antonio Conte after completing a move from Manchester United less than 12 months ago
Scott McTominay of SSC Napoli celebrates with team-mates
Scott McTominay was a crucial part of Napoli winning Serie A
(Image: Elianton/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
Scott McTominay is thriving at Napoli because of the faith placed in him by Antonio Conte says his first Manchester United coach. The Scotland international has become a hero in the south of Italy after helping Napoli to win Serie A in his debut season.
McTominay joined the Italian giants last summer in a £26million deal to depart Old Trafford after 22 years. And the 28-year-old hit the ground running to scored 13 goals on the way to the title, including six goals in the final seven games of the campaign.
Ex-United boss Erik ten Hag did not want to see McTominay exit the club last summer but the midfielder has clearly taken on a more prominent role at his new club. McTominay started 33 of 34 league games he appeared in this term in contrast to 18 of 34 in 2023/24 at United.
Charlie Jackson, founder of Matrix Soccer Academy and McTominay’s first coach at United, believes the trust placed in him has been pivotal to the Scot's success. The coach, who has also worked with Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton and Fulham left-back Antonee Robinson, reckons Jose Mourinho is the other figure to have inspired McTominay to such a degree.
Jackson, who describes McTominay as 'tenaciouos' and eager to learn as a child, believes the Serie A superstar thrives when provided with support.
"Jose was just fantastic for him," Jackson told the Sun. "Gave him his debut, looked after him. Scott always works off confidence and a pat on the back.
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"If you believe in him, he’ll run over coals for you. Conte’s done that. Mourinho did that as well.”
Jackson believes McTominay will continue to improve and show he is worthy of being labelled as world class. "The best is yet to come for him," he said.
"I don’t think you’ve seen anything yet. I used to say to his dad Frank, ‘He’ll never be looked at as world class and it’s a shame but he should be because he is’.
SSC Napoli supporters wave a flag depicting Scott McTominay
Scott McTominay is a Napoli hero(Image: Cesare Purini/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
"He had success with Man United but to go and do what he’s now done . . . and there is much, much more to come. That’s the biggest thing that I can say about him — it’s just the tip of the iceberg, honestly.”
And Jackson believes McTominay's talents have been present right from the beginning. Coaching the star when he was still just five years old, was under no illusion that the Napoli ace would make it to the very top.
He said: "There were no video phones in those days but I wish we could have filmed him as you’d have seen a special player. I’ve got his first shirt, his first training shirt and his first football — that we’ve got in a glass case — because you knew. You just knew.”
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