Scott McTominay 'had shock on heart' before Scotland World Cup game as ex-Man Utd star opens up on summer

McTominay explained that he was taken to hospital 48 hours before the match on June 14 and was “put to sleep”. At the time, his absence from training was put down to a sickness bug, but the 29-year-old has spoken for the first time on what he went through during the summer.

McTominay played the full 90 minutes in the 1-0 win over the Haitians and started the next two games against Morocco and Brazil, which Scotland lost to exit the tournament at the group stage.

McTominay then went on holiday before returning to his club side Napoli, who announced on September 1 that the former Man Utd player was to have a procedure to correct a "mild benign arrhythmia". He missed the last international window under new head coach Sebastien Pocognoli, but is now back in the camp for matches against North Macedonia and Switzerland in the coming days.

“I’m good,” said McTominay in his broadcast press conference on Tuesday. “I’m feeling much, much better than I was. I feel like it was something that needed to be done. In your career you have moments like that where things like that can take you by surprise. It looks a lot worse in the media for family and friends - they see news relating to a heart issue - but it’s a relatively straightforward procedure that went really well. I’m really happy to be back and playing football again. That’s the most important thing.

“I feel like it was explained to me really, really well by the doctors at Napoli and my cardiologist in Manchester alongside the doctor in Scotland when we were away at the World Cup. He explained that if this was the case, this is how it would look. Credit to all the staff members, they made me so relaxed about the situation.”

Explaining how the World Cup unfolded, McTominay continued: “The World Cup, it was difficult for me, to be honest. I had to go and get the shock on my heart. That was two days before the Haiti game. You prepare so well, I was in such good condition and something like that happens. You’re thinking ‘how has this happened to me’. But then you have to get on with it. That’s the cards you are dealt in football. Sometimes things don’t go your way and you have to continue to do your best. It’s nowhere near an excuse but it’s something you have to look back on and say ‘well, it’s part of the process.’

“Obviously the way the World Cup went, there were at least two, three weeks of me sitting there disappointed, not quite there mentally. I needed time to settle down and have a break.

“I was 100 per cent [fitness wise], but whenever you are sat in a hospital bed two days before the World Cup, about to get put to sleep, it’s not ideal, is it? So whenever things like that happen ... it is what it is, there’s nothing you can do about it. After the World Cup, I reflected on it and I was extremely disappointed. Probably the most disappointed I’ve ever been in my career.

“After the World Cup, my summer holidays weren’t heavily centred around thinking about the World Cup, but it plays a part. Whenever you are disappointed or angry about something, you go away on your holidays and it’s just not the same. You are sat there thinking ‘we could have done more’ but that three-week break I had with my operation done me the world of good.

“I’m always one to be glass half-full but after the World Cup I was like ‘this is a tough one to take’. But you have to refresh and you have to come out stronger at the other side.”