Scott McTominay's Napoli rise detailed by Serie A boss as Scotland teammate suffers injury setback

The Scotland international has morphed into a superstar since opting to end his 22 year association with the English Premier League giants on the final day of the 2024 summer transfer window, winning the Scudetto in his debut campaign at the by moving to the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium last season.

A revelation since his arrival in Southern Italy, the 29-year-old broke Denis Law’s 63-year record for the most goals scored by a Scotsman in a single Serie A season during the 2024/25 campaign, was nominated for the Ballon d’Or 2025, and named the league’s most valuable player at the end of a breathtaking campaign at Napoli.

"In this year and a half, (McTominay) became a complete player," said Conte. “When I was in England and faced him as an opponent, I always saw his quality, but always one part of his quality - especially to attack the box and score. Instead, we worked with him on the build-up and construction, and I tried (with) difficulty also to transform him into a complete player.

"He now plays with (Stanislav) Lobotka as two midfielders, and he has improved a lot in the build-up. At the same time, he has never lost the possibility to attack, to be a box-to-box player. Now he is, in my opinion, a really, really top player for an important club. He has improved a lot – it’s the same for Rasmus Hojlund. We’re lucky to have them in our team because they are helping a lot, Scott last season and this season Scott with Rasmus."

Set to take on Chelsea in the Champions League tonight, the talismanic midfielder will be relied upon once again, with Napoli needing to beat Liam Rosenior’s side in Naples, or face elimination from the competition.

“We’ve let a few slip,” admitted McTominay. “We should have beaten Frankfurt at home [0-0 draw], should have beaten Copenhagen away [1-1 draw]. We had a red card in the first few minutes against Man City [a 2-0 defeat], so that changed the game dramatically there. For us, it’s been a little bit of a rollercoaster, and we’re not quite sure where we’re at in this competition.

“To cement that and get our feet on the ground, to go through and beat Chelsea would be something where we could look at the next round with great pride and say we can attack this competition from here."

Meanwhile, McTominay’s international teammate Ryan Gauld has been dealt a blow in his hopes of earning a recall to the Scotland squad after being forced to undergo surgery for a troublesome knee injury. The Vancouver Whitecaps star suffered what his club called a ‘left knee capsule sprain and bone contusion’ almost a year ago, which kept him out until October.

However, the 30-year-old has now opted to get surgery to permanently fix the issue ahead of the start of the new MLS season in February, and is expected to miss the next two months, ruling him out of contention for Scotland’s fixtures against Japan and the Ivory Coast in March.

The former Dundee United man last played for Scotland in a 2-1 UEFA Nations League victory over Poland on November 18, 2024, but will hope to have reminded head coach Steve Clarke of his talents after leading the Whitecaps to the MLS playoff final during the 2025 campaign, though, he now faces a race against time if he is to win a place back in the national team squad before the World Cup in June.

“We are pleased to hear that Ryan’s procedure was a success,” said Axel Schuster, Whitecaps FC sporting director. “Following recent consultation with a specialist, everyone agreed that this was the best course of action at this time. We will continue to closely monitor his ongoing recovery and anticipate he will make a full recovery by April.”

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