Ten Hag’s mistake, the about-turn on Brescianini, the fatal Verona, Conte’s outburst, the decisive relaunch: this is how Napoli managed the McTominay coup in the summer. Is he already on the podium of the best midfielders in Serie A?

Scott McTominay scored the 1-0 goal on Sunday afternoon for the third time in eleven league games. Arriving from Manchester United at the end of August, the Scottish midfielder almost immediately became a cornerstone of Antonio Conte’s team. A quarter of an hour with Cagliari immediately after the September break, then always on the pitch and never replaced because replacing him – finding another player like him – is almost impossible.

In the last few hours the comparison with Arturo Vidal has arisen. He too was an essential footballer in Conte’s Juve, but we are talking about players who are not exactly comparable. Even with different football parables. Today Conte is enjoying the Scotsman and on Sunday, after the victory against Torino resulting from one of his goals, he said and didn’t say anything about his arrival: “It wasn’t easy to make him leave Manchester, where he was no longer a protagonist, to come and play for a team that doesn’t compete in European cups. He could see it as a step backwards, a downgrade in his career. Let’s be clear: I wasn’t asking for any profile for come to Naples, I accepted for the place. I didn’t impose any conditions, there are none. It’s inevitable that if they ask me to strengthen the team, I try not to make mistakes with the players.”

However, Conte McTominay had certainly asked for it. The first telephone contact between the Lecce coach and the Scottish midfielder dates back to the end of July and came at the end of a scouting work carried out by the coach himself. It was the new Napoli manager during his first approaches to the Neapolitan world who suggested the name of McTominay, who raised the antennas of Giovanni Manna who at that point took action and contacted Manchester United. Surprisingly, in that call came an opening from the red devils. “He is not an essential player for ten Hag”the summary of the response received from England. The negotiation began like this, but then there were other essential steps, far from trivial, which led to the white smoke. For example, the about-turn on Marco Brescianini.

It was August 13th when Napoli landed the midfielder then playing for Frosinone at Villa Stuart for medical visits: everything seems done, but Brescianini who had significantly lower costs than McTominay did not convince everyone. Above all, he did not fully convince Conte. So when Atalanta relaunches Napoli they have already taken a step back. Watch out for the timing: Brescianini moved to Atalanta in the week before the first matchday of the championship. And precisely in that round of Serie A, which came after a difficult victory on penalties in the Italian Cup against Modena, Napoli suffered a terrible defeat in Verona against Hellas which changed the scenario.

Conte made a loud statement immediately after the 3-0 at Bentegodi: he wanted the signings and he wanted them as soon as possible. He no longer wanted to wait for the sale of Osimhen to finance the incoming transfer market (a permanent sale that will not happen) and asked De Laurentiis to invest. In the following days the president satisfied him: he didn’t want to break the toy even before building it and gave the OK to Manna to fulfill the coach’s requests.

On the Tuesday following the defeat against Verona, the negotiations with United were back on track after a couple of weeks on standby. But it took a little more time to reach closure, another relaunch. Above all McTominay’s desire to change the atmosphere and the championship. In the Premier League everyone knew that the Scot could leave with the right offer, but only West Ham made a serious move to buy him. Not a top club, not an attractive challenge. And so for weeks the footballer asked Colin Murdoch, his agent, to focus on the negotiations with Napoli.

Manna, after mid-August, made a first proposal: twenty-two million plus four in bonuses. They weren’t enough. Manchester United, who had said they were willing to sell their midfielder, have in the meantime raised the stakes a bit. He sold it, he didn’t sell it off. And so for the closing of the operation we have almost reached the final bell, the definitive white smoke is dated 30 August 2024.
“Welcome Scott!”, the tweet by De Laurentiis who had to relaunch to close the operation: 25 million euros plus five bonuses. An economically important operation, also because we are talking about a player who will turn 28 on Sunday. A Lukaku style dealwhich however provided Napoli and Antonio Conte with a player capable of making an immediate difference.
Four goals, leadership, a lot of running and just as much quality: today the summary in broad terms is this one. In three months McTominay has already become one of the strongest midfielders in our championship. On the same levels as the best, such as Barella, Reijnders, Ederson or Calhanoglu. Difficult to line them up…