With Napoli on course to win their fourth Serie A title, it’s not without good reason that the good footballing folk of Naples appear to be coming down with a serious, delirious case of acute McTominay-mania.
It stems from the phenomenal form of one Scott McTominay, who has enjoyed a remarkable season as the pumping heart of the Napoli team since completing his shock transfer from Manchester United at the start of the 2024-25 campaign.
Just 30 games in, and the Scotland international midfielder is already approaching cult-hero status with the Partonopei after hitting the ground running in the Italian top flight and helping to propel Antonio Conte’s side to the top of the table.
McTominay made two appearances for United at the start of the season before completing a £25.4 million transfer to Napoli. He has since flourished under Conte, who obviously saw the value of building a team around a hard-working, combative attacking midfielder who also happens to provide a consistent goal threat.
McTominay’s instant success in Naples has also seen him become a huge fan favorite at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, earning several nicknames from the Partonopei faithful. He has been dubbed “McTerminator” and the “Il Apribottiglie — “The Bottle Opener” — by locals due to his knack for scoring the opening goal in games, but McTominay’s new moniker of choice appears to be “McFratm,” which was apparently coined by Napoli teammate Pasquale Mazzocchi.
The portmanteau is a blend of the Scottish midfielder’s surname and the Neapolitan slang term “fratm,” which roughly equates to “bro” — so, “McBro.”
Indeed, McFratm seems to have stuck to the point that one particularly ardent Napoli fan has had McTominay’s nickname and No. 8 shirt number tattooed indelibly on his arm by a local artist, as witnessed in an Instagram post that went viral last week.
Such is the fervor surrounding the great McTominaissance of 2024-25 in Naples that the Scottish tourism industry recently made a bid to cash in by using the midfielder (and teammate and fellow countryman Billy Gilmour) to persuade local people to visit Scotland to soak in the nation’s culture, cuisine, whisky and hospitality.
At a large market held in the Italian city, the delegation from the A Taste of Scotland Tour offered discounts on flagons of Scottish beer to any Napoli supporters attending the Mercato Europeo, which was staged in the Piazza Dante over the weekend. As well as being festooned with tartan, the stall also had the midfielder’s No. 8 shirt hanging in the entrance in a bid to lure in curious Partonopei fans.
Much like the lashings of ale on offer in the piazza, Napoli have had to rely on their very own bottle opener to keep things flowing this season. In fact, it’s fair to say that McTominay is having the season of his life in Italy after freeing himself from the Old Trafford shackles.
The 28-year-old has already scored two more goals for Napoli this campaign than he has managed in a single season before. Since leaving Manchester United, McTominay has scored 12 goals in 33 games in all competitions for Napoli, adding four assists.
McTominay’s slew of goals for Napoli has also seen him become the joint-highest scoring Scottish player in a single Serie A season after drawing level with the great Denis Law, who hit 11 goals in the Italian top flight for Torino back in 1962-63.
Since mid-April, McTominay has embarked on an impressive hot streak that has seen him pitch in with five goals in his past four league games. This coincides with a nine-game unbeaten sequence for Napoli that has seen the Partonopei leapfrog defending champions Internazionale at the top of the Serie A table. Napoli sit six points clear with three games left to play as they edge ever closer to the Scudetto.
McTominay has undoubtedly played a pivotal role in what could well be an extraordinary league title victory in his debut season in Naples. With 11 league goals in 31 games, he is just one behind top scorer Romelu Lukaku, who has hit the net 12 times in Serie A. McTominay has also broken the deadlock by scoring the opening goal in seven league games, five of which Napoli have gone onto win.
Oct. 4, 2024: Napoli 3, Como 1 (after one minute)
Nov. 10, 2024: Napoli 1, Inter Milan 1
Dec. 1, 2024: Napoli 1, Torino 0
Feb. 9, 2025: Napoli 1, Udinese 1
April 14, 2025: Napoli 3, Empoli 0 (first and last goals of the game)
April 19, 2025: Napoli 1, Monza 0
April 27, 2025: Napoli 2, Torino 0
Since McTominay left Old Trafford to join Napoli last Aug. 30, only one player on Manchester United’s current squad has mustered a better goal contribution tally. Indeed, other than Bruno Fernandes (49 games, 19 goals, 17 assists), not a single other United player has outscored McTominay since he left for Italy.
Given their underwhelming efforts in the Premier League this season, you have to wonder why United ever let him leave.
