{"id":236738,"date":"2025-09-18T16:12:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T16:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/236738\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T16:12:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T16:12:13","slug":"great-potential-antonio-conte-puzzled-at-how-man-utd-failed-to-pull-off-something-with-scott-mctominay-in-england","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/236738\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Great potential’ – Antonio Conte puzzled at how Man Utd failed to pull off something with Scott McTominay ‘in England’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Napoli manager Antonio Conte is surprised that Manchester United were not able to tap into the full potential of one of Scott McTominay\u2019s strengths at Old Trafford.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manchester United made the call to sell Scott McTominay<\/a> in 2024, despite former Red Devils manager Erik ten Hag<\/a> being an admirer of the Scotland international.<\/p>\n

McTominay<\/a> was expected to see his United first-team<\/a> opportunities limited after the club signed Manuel Ugarte<\/a> from Paris Saint-Germain for an initial fee of \u00a342.1m.<\/p>\n

Napoli swooped in for McTominay in 2024<\/a> and the defending Serie A champions signed the 28-year-old Scottish midfielder for a fee of \u00a325.7m from United<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The former United midfielder has been able to thrive away from Old Trafford<\/a> and McTominay has impressed during his spell so far under Antonio Conte<\/a> at Napoli.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \u2018Promising signs\u2019\u2026 Hansi Flick\u2019s Marcus Rashford blueprint broken down by Barcelona insider, \u2018clear plan\u2019 is now built<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"AntonioPhoto by Matteo Ciambelli\/DeFodi Images via Getty ImagesAntonio Conte reveals what he expected to see from Man Utd when they used Napoli midfielder Scott McTominay<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott McTominay had spent his entire playing career at Old Trafford ahead of his move to Napoli, having come through the Manchester United youth academy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The former United star had a meaningful impact in his debut Serie A season with Napoli, with McTominay netting 13 times in 36 matches across all competitions.<\/p>\n

The 30-man Ballon d\u2019Or shortlist featured McTominay<\/a>, who picked up six assists as well last season, after his superb run of form under Napoli manager Antonio Conte.<\/p>\n

Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Wednesday, Conte admitted that he was surprised that United didn\u2019t make McTominay a \u201cdominant\u201d force in England.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew him when he played with Manchester United because I coached two times in England [with Chelsea and Tottenham],\u201d he said, as per The Guardian<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw great potential in this player and was [asking] why Scott McTominay is not dominant in England because he has great potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the possibility happened to sign him for Napoli, honestly, in the first moment, I didn\u2019t believe that it could happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt happened and now he is enjoying it.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Alejandro Garnacho\u2019s Champions League debut for Chelsea has Man Utd fans all reacting loudly, \u2018some people never\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Antonio Conte\u2019s feelings on Scott McTominay\u2019s run at Napoli ahead of the Champions League showdown with Man City<\/strong><\/p>\n

Napoli travel to the Etihad on Thursday evening and the defending Serie A champions kick off their Champions League campaign against Manchester City.<\/p>\n

McTominay has already made three appearances in the Serie A for Napoli this season and the Scotland international scored in the 2-0 win over Sassuolo.<\/p>\n

Napoli boss Conte has admitted that he is thrilled that his side pulled off their 2024 swoop for McTominay, who has shown himself to be a \u201cfantastic player\u201d for the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a player like him, he was born in Manchester United and there is a point in your career and life where maybe you need to change and to try another experience,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt happened with us and we are really, really happy because we are not only talking about a fantastic player but a fantastic man.\u201d<\/p>\n

City and Napoli\u2019s first Champions League match of the 2025-26 campaign is slated for an 8pm UK kick-off time in the UK on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Napoli manager Antonio Conte is surprised that Manchester United were not able to tap into the full potential…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":236739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[127064,24937,103991,221,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-236738","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-antonio-conte","9":"tag-champions-league","10":"tag-scott-mctominay","11":"tag-soccer","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115226184748273101","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}