A great week of vicarious success for Manchester United. Scott McTominay’s Ballon d’Or nomination will be claimed as a win by United supporters, because, well, associated glory with the Manc Maradona is the best they can do in this period of unprecedented Premier League disruption.
In a powerful way, McTominay joins the imminent arrival of Benjamin Sesko as a badge of honour for United fans desperate to cling to and propagate United’s big club aura. Like Bryan Mbeumo before him, Sesko eschewed the overtures of Newcastle United for the fallen house of Glazer. Tick.
And now one of their own, a lad who spent 20 years at United, infant, boy and man, has shown himself worthy of the best company at Napoli. Tick. Though the golden gong is destined for a French home, recognition is reward enough for a player who arguably glorified the United brand more in a blue shirt than he did 1500 miles away in red.
McTominay’s role in Napoli’s fourth Scudetto already earned him Serie A’s player of the season (MVP) award.
The global pageant that is the Ballon d’Or deepens the sense of achievement and begs two obvious questions; why could United not make better use of him? And why when they sold him did they do so for a comparatively low figure? A price tag of £25m seems absurd when the going rate for incomers starts at £60m.
It is true that McTominay has flourished on the Neapolitan Riviera, embracing the locale, the language and culture enthusiastically. While not quite in the Diego Maradona class of icon, the tifosi have taken the Scot to heart, giving back in equal measure the love he has shown them.
A mural of McTominay, or McFratm (frat boy), appeared in May on the wall of the San Nicola a Nilo Roman Catholic church in the centre of the city. In a further tribute, ultras have taken to wearing kilts on the Curva A. There is even a pizza named after him at an Edinburgh restaurant owned by the sons of Neapolitan parents.
The clear tactical change under Antonio Conte was to unleash McTominay as an attacking force rather than the defensive midfielder he was at United. His goal return of 12 in 34 comfortably surpasses the 19 he scored in 178 Premier League appearances.
Unencumbered by the United story, McTominay has found his game in Serie A. The attachment to Napoli is of an entirely different order, more transactional, less personal, a place of work not the calling it must be for a former Babe.
It is also the case that the quality of players across Serie A is not what it is in the Premier League, where McTominay failed to impose himself in the same emphatic way. The intensity, tactical awareness and technical demands are percentage points greater in the Premier League, ultimately placing a ceiling on McTominay’s effectiveness.
He had his moments, of course, but nowhere near the influence he has at Napoli nor the match-winning actions. The final pass would frequently go astray at United, and the first touch failed him in tight spaces. Had he been in a better team at Old Trafford, playing under less pressure in a less toxic, dysfunctional environment, he might have hit a similar rhythm, but that was not to be his fate.
He could never be faulted for effort, however, a quality that endeared him rapidly to Napoli supporters. Significantly, eight of his 12 goals broke the deadlock in matches, setting the agenda, creating a unique bond with fans and triggering a second nickname; apribottiglie, the bottle opener. He now has cause to crack another, an unlikely A-lister at the age of 28.