Serie A champions searching for new No 9 after pre-season incident
Scott McTominay could be reunited with a former Manchester United teammate at Napoli after it emerged that the Serie A champions are weighing up a loan move for Rasmus Hojlund.
Napoli have been rocked by the news that their main striker Romelu Lukaku will miss the first three months of the 2025/26 campaign after suffering a thigh injury. The Belgian may require surgery after the incident during a 2-1 pre-season friendly win over Olimpiacos.
Lukaku’s injury leaves Napoli manager Antonio Conte short of options in attack and Gli Azzurri are now weighing up a move for Hojlund, who is out of the first-team picture at Man Utd.
Rasmus Hojlund and Scott McTominay played together for a season at Man Utd.placeholder image
Rasmus Hojlund and Scott McTominay played together for a season at Man Utd. | AFP via Getty Images
The 22-year-old Denmark internationalist was not in the squad for Sunday’s 1-0 defeat by Arsenal to open the English Premier League season and has fallen down the pecking order at Old Trafford following big-money summer arrivals of fellow forwards Benjamin Sesko, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo.
Hojlund signed for Man Utd two summers ago from Atalanta for £64m and the Dane played with McTominay for one season before Scotland internationalist moved to Napoli for £25 million. McTominay became a key player for Conte and a legend among the Neapolitan support as they went on to win only their fourth Scudetto in the club’s history last term.
With Napoli’s Serie A title defence starting on Saturday away to Sassuolo, the club’s hierarchy are mulling over their options in terms of recruiting a new No 9. A loan move for Hojlund has been mooted due to his previous experience of Italian football with Atalanta and Man Utd’s willingness to let him leave.
Napoli want another physical striker
Napoli concluded their friendlies schedule by beating Olimpiacos 2-1 last Thursday. They have also beaten Sorrento, Girona and Catanzaro, drawn with Casertana and lost to Brest and Arezzo during their pre-season preparations.
While Napoli been active this summer in the transfer market, bringing in defender Sam Beukema, midfielder Kevin de Bruyne and forward Noa Lang, Conte believes the absence of Lukaku deprives them of a focal point and physicality in attack. The 32-year-old Belgian scored 14 goals in 36 Serie A matches to help fire his team to the title.
Napoli will face renewed competition from last season’s runners-up Internazionale, as well as Juventus, AC Milan, Atalanta, Roma and Lazio for this season’s Scudetto. Both McTominay and his fellow Scotland internationalist Billy Gilmour are expected to be involved in Saturday evening’s curtain-raiser at Sassuolo, who have another Scotland player in Josh Doig among their ranks.
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Lennon Miller swelled the Scottish contingent in Italian football last week when he moved to Udinese from Motherwell, although he was left out of their squad for Monday’s Coppa Italia 2-0 win over Carrarese. Scotland’s first-choice striker Che Adams started for Torino as they beat Modena 1-0 in the cup.
Lewis Ferguson, however, is expected to miss out for Bologna’s start to the season when they travel to Roma on Saturday evening. The Scotland midfielder picked up a muscle issue in pre-season and is a doubt for the World Cup qualifiers against Denmark and Belarus early next month.