What has happened since he left Man Utd?

It’s been six weeks since Scott McTominay bid a permanent farewell to Manchester United, the club where he spent 22 of his nearly 28 years on this planet.

Despite scoring ten goals in all competitions last season, McTominay was not a regular starter for Erik ten Hag and his contributions were not enough to convince the manager to keep him at Old Trafford.

Although Ten Hag later said ideally he would have preferred not to let McTominay go, United knew they had to sell in the summer transfer window if they were going to bring in new players and homegrown sales are far more valuable when dealing with increasingly tight finances of the Premier League. regulations McTominay, who was the subject of a £30million bid rejected from West Ham in 2023, has been tipped as someone who could provide the funds that would allow United to sign Manuel Ugarte.

Naples finally agreed to pay around £25 million to bring the Scotland international to Italy, linking up at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium with compatriot Billy Gilmour, former United team-mate Romelu Lukaku and former Premier League-winning manager Antonio Conte.

Wearing the number 8 shirt previously worn at Napoli by Fabian Ruiz, Jorginho, the late Colombian legend Freddy Rincon and World Cup winner Alain Boghossian, McTominay made his Napoli debut as a substitute in the 4-0 win against the Cagliari a Series A right after the September international break.

Since then, he has been drafted into Conte’s starting line-up, usually in an advanced midfield role in front of a deeper pairing, as the manager looks to exploit McTominay’s ability to get into the box as a threat of goal It was a quality he showed at United last season.

The Scot’s status as a starter in Conte’s eyes was evident when a Coppa Italia draw against second-tier Palermo at the end of September saw him drop to the bench in the side. LukakuKhvicha Kvaratskhelia, Matteo Politano, Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, Amir Rrahmani and captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo.

But that game also gave McTominay his first goal for Napoli as he was called on for the closing stages with his side 3-0 up and set up by Lukaku. The Belgian striker was again the assistant as McTominay scored just 26 seconds into Napoli’s last Serie A outing against Como, another win.

It already looks like a partnership worth pursuing and Lukaku is optimistic: “He knows my game, we played together in Manchester for two years. I know his ability in front of goal is lethal, we expect a lot of goals and assists from him. It’s going very well and we have to continue like that.”

Napoli are unbeaten since McTominay’s arrival and look right at home, quickly kissing the badge on their new shirt as they celebrate their goal against Palermo.

Sometimes you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone and hindsight has led people to question United’s logic given how McTominay is suddenly performing at Napoli.

But ultimately, opinion is still divided on whether letting him go was right or wrong.

Whether McTominay was good enough to realize United’s overall ambitions or not, the midfield he left behind definitely doesn’t seem to be in a better place in his absence.

Ugarte was the upgrade of choice but it will take some time to settle and had a surprise on his full debut for United in the 3-0 annihilation at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur. As a result, he was benched and hasn’t even set foot on the pitch since, with Ten Hag preferring to restore Christian Eriksen to their starting line-up in subsequent games against Porto and Aston Villa.

Casemiro’s problem persists, with United forced to continue to rely on the veteran Brazilian, who is now a shadow of the former world-beater from his Real Madrid days. There is also too much demand on Kobbie Mainoo to be the saviour, with the team lacking presence in the middle of the park.

For the first time in his United career, Bruno Fernandes is also struggling for form and his frustration is proving a liability. He was sent off harshly against Tottenham and was sent off, but another red card in the Europa League a few days later was reckless of him in the circumstances.

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