McTominay: ‘Napoli fans insane, Conte call lit a fire inside me’ | OneFootball

Scott McTominay admits that when the call came from Antonio Conte’s Napoli, ‘it lit the fire inside me’ and he was greeted by an ‘insane’ level of passion from the fans. ‘I want to be pushed as hard as I can.’

The Scotland international made the move from Manchester United for €30.5m plus a percentage of the sell-on fee, completing the transfer on deadline day.

“When I found out that Napoli were interested, it lit the fire inside me right away to come here and push as much as I can,” he told the official Napoli YouTube channel.

“The fans are insane, I would say some of the best fans I have ever seen or experienced. Incredible, I can’t speak highly enough of the fans and the people here.

“The welcome I’ve had from my teammates and the coach, whenever a coach like that wants to bring you in to incorporate you into the squad, it fills you with confidence. The conversations we’ve had are obviously between me and the coach, but all very positive and really demanding, which is really good for a player of my age.

“I’m 27 now, so I’m not a young kid, but I’m also not old. I want to be pushed as hard as I can. I just want to play as good as I can, to show I care about this team and want to do well.”

McTominay made his Serie A debut off the bench in a 4-0 win away to Cagliari, then started the 0-0 draw with Juventus.

“Italian football is different, obviously there is a lot tactically that you have to study, but for me football is football. If you train properly, look after yourself and are willing to learn, then you can adapt quickly to the way the coach wants you to play.

“It’s concentration, trying my best to learn as much as I can in a short period of time, to get up to speed and just do your best with a smile on your face.”

Family means a great deal to McTominay, who when asked the traditional question about his biggest dream in life, it was not about the Champions League or major trophies, but something more substantial.

“My biggest dream as a person is to be happy. I feel that ultimately happiness is the best thing in life, it’s so important that you have a smile on your face, and ultimately when you have a smile on your face, you play better at football as well.”

The Scotland international’s father was a long-distance runner and McTominay admits he never was able to beat some of those 5km and 10-mile times.

While golf is a favourite when he has time, McTominay reveals the desire to become a professional backgammon player.

Before all of that, the player has a more important subject to study and that is the new language.

“Italian is not easy, because I speak fast, but whenever I listen to people in Italian, they speak very fast! Over the last 2-3 weeks, I picked up little bits in training sessions, the hotel, in the city.

“Hopefully when I have my own house here I will get a tutor to help me, as I want to understand everything that the coach and teammates are saying. It’s a great life skill to have, learning a different language.”

The moment Napoli signed Conte, they knew it would automatically make them one of the Scudetto contenders.

“My dream right now is to win the championship with Napoli, win trophies, do my absolute best to help the team, strive forwards and really push my career on,” concluded McTominay.

“I want to train to the maximum capabilities for the rest of my career, which hopefully will be a long time.”