Manchester United sold Scott McTominay to Napoli, and their head coach, Antonio Conte, is now getting the best out of him, as he did with Paul Pogba at Juventus
Paul Pogba wearing casual clothes
Paul Pogba credits Antonio Conte with improving Scott McTominay(Image: Dave Winter/Shutterstock)
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Paul Pogba believes Napoli head coach Antonio Conte is the reason why Scott McTominay is playing so well since leaving Manchester United.
Pogba, 33, made his breakthrough at Juventus under Conte after joining the team from Turin in 2012. They spent two seasons working together and won the league in both years before the Italian resigned.
Conte then won his fifth Serie A title as a coach, and tenth including his playing career, after signing McTominay last season. The Scotland international made the league's team of the year in his debut campaign, just as Pogba did in Conte's last at Juventus.
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After being asked what has worked so well for McTominay while appearing on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, Pogba credited the former Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur coach. "Antonio Conte," he replied.
"Believe me or not, when I saw that Scott would go to Napoli with Antonio Conte, I said, 'watch. Conte will love him because he has everything that Conte loves.'
"We play, we're teammates. He's a hard worker. Discipline. He trains always like he plays. He's somebody that you know you need to have in your team, that he will give everything, you know, you need someone like that."
Pogba also compared McTominay to another Scottish former United midfielder, Darren Fletcher. The Frenchman highlighted the goalscoring ability of both.
"He was kind of like [Darren] Fletcher," Pogba said. "And Scott knows how to score goals. Scott, Fletch [they] knew how to score goals too. Scott scores goals, scores a lot of goals. In training, he always scores, you know.
"And I was like, with Conte, he will make him run, and he likes to run. He's strong. Italian football, they're not too strong. I think it will work. Believe me or not, that's what I said. And I know Conte."
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Pogba reiterated that McTominay's willingness to cover distance and get around the pitch throughout a match makes the difference in Italy. He added: "Scott loves to run. He loves to, he loves that.
"He has like this character we were talking about. He has this discipline, this thing, this fire inside him. That makes the difference. And with Conte, he can only improve. Conte could only improve Scott, because Scott will know exactly what he will have to do.
Head to the Rio Ferdinand Presents YouTube channel to watch the full interview live from 8 am on Wednesday, 22nd April.