Napoli boss Antonio Conte has made an unexpected admission about his star man and former Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay.
Last summer, Manchester United approved Scott McTominay’s £25 million move to Italian powerhouse Napoli with little opposition.
Despite delivering some crucial goals for United the season before, the 28-year-old midfielder was never a consistent starter. As a product of the club’s academy, his sale represented a full profit on the books.
However, after United’s struggles last term, many supporters have started to question the decision to let McTominay go to Italy.
Meanwhile, the Scottish international has flourished under Antonio Conte at Napoli, emerging as a vital cog in their Serie A title win. In 39 appearances, McTominay delivered his most productive season to date, tallying 13 goals and six assists from midfield.
Conte makes unexpected admission about McTominay
Following on from that brilliant debut campaign, where he was named Serie A’s Player of the Year, McTominay has been the topic of discussion for Conte in a recent interview.
Interestingly, the Italian coach has admitted that he never even expected for the deal to get over the line and thought that his sporting director was only telling him about the possibility of a move to keep him calm.
“Scott is a player whom I knew really well. He was born and raised at Manchester United,” Conte told Sky Sport earlier this week.
“I could see that he always made an impact when he played, but at the same time, I noticed he wasn’t used as a key player at Manchester United. He was hardly a starter. Honestly, we had talked about it with [Napoli director] Giovanni Manna. He told me it was a possible solution.
“Sometimes, directors make up stories also to keep you calm!
“If you ask me: ‘Have you ever thought McTominay would surely arrive?’ I’d say no. Don’t forget we were heading into a season without European trophies to play for, so he had to leave Manchester United to start over with us.”
United have had little power in negotiations
It speaks volumes that Conte didn’t even expect Napoli to secure the deal for McTominay. He was a United player through-and-through, and the fee wasn’t exactly jaw-dropping.
At the time, Erik ten Hag didn’t even want to sell the Scotsman but the financial benefits of the sale came first on the agenda for those at Old Trafford.
The same things seem to be happening this summer at Old Trafford, with decent home-grown players such as Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford likely to be sold below their true market value.
When you are struggling on the pitch, there is always this kind of knock-on effect and United have experienced it a lot over recent years.
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