Napoli are set to welcome a Manchester United player, and a face from the past.
As he stepped out of the car and attempted to force his way through a sky blue sea of supporters, Romelu Lukaku could have been forgiven for taking a moment, taking a breath and – after helping one poor photographer back to his feet after he stumbled amidst all the ruckus – reflecting on what Diego Maradona meant when he described the Napoli supporters as nothing short of ‘crazy‘, per Reuters.
The former Manchester United striker is joining the 2023 Serie A champions, Chelsea letting their forgotten man embark on another loan deal after spells at Inter Milan and Roma.
Lukaku will be joined at the Estadio Diego Armando Maradona, meanwhile, by a very familiar face. And we don’t mean his former Nerrazzurri coach Antonio Conte, now in the Napoli dugout.
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Manchester United sell Scott McTominay to Napoli
Lukaku spent a brief time playing alongside one Scott McTominay at Old Trafford. The latter emerged as a first-team option towards the final moments of the Belgian’s Man United career.
Six or so years later, Lukaku and McTominay will now be reunited in the south of Italy.
Fabrizio Romano reports that Napoli are set to sign the Carrington graduate in a £25 million deal, winning the race after proposed moves to Galatasaray, Fulham and a cash-strapped Everton failed to materialise.
McTominay is now expected to undergo a medical today before his potential Serie A debut against Parma this weekend.
If Lukaku was a necessity – Napoli look set to lose star striker Victor Osimhen and therefore required a replacement – McTominay could also be a valuable piece in the puzzle Conte hopes to solve after taking over a side who went from first to 10th in just 12 months.
Emiliano Viviano, the former Italy goalkeeper, feels that the Man United fans’ favourite is the sort of player Napoli simply didn’t have before.
An athletic, all-action, box-crashing number eight to slot in ahead of the deep-lying Stanislav Lobotka and alongside the mercurial Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa.
“I am crazy that Manchester United let McTominay go,” Viviano, once of Arsenal, Inter Milan and Fiorentina, tells Radio CRC.
“I’m happy for Napoli, because he’s a box-to-box (player) like few others.
“He’s a player that Conte’s team is missing at the moment.”
Scotland star swaps Premier League for Serie A
McTominay enjoyed his best-ever scoring season in 2023/24.
For club and country, the towering midfielder hit the target 13 times before also netting at Euro 2024. Many of those – see Brentford, Chelsea and Aston Villa – were very timely goals at very big moments, McTominay’s knack for popping up in the right place and at the right time likely to aid a Napoli side who drew more games than they won last term.
One suspects McTominay will also be delighted by the chance to work with Lukaku again.
While many have unfairly labelled him a Manchester United flop, the one-time West Brom and Everton talisman did produce 42 goals in two seasons at Old Trafford and that is a record not to be sniffed at.
“He’s a world-class striker and a very good friend of mine,” McTominay told Sky Sports back in 2019 after his Scotland side went up against Belgium.
“He is deadly. If he gets opportunities, he’s going to take them.”
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