Manchester United sold Scott McTominay to Napoli in 2024 and the Scotland international has gone from strength to strength, but his old club are struggling.
Former Manchester United star Nemanja Matic has slammed the decision to let Scott McTominay go, but former manager Erik ten Hag was on his side. McTominay was sold by United in August 2024 after accepting a bid worth 30 million euros (approximately 2.54 billion yen) from Napoli.
The 28-year-old midfielder made an instant impact in Italy, helping Napoli win the Serie A title and winning the league’s Player of the Year award. McTominay, who was given a more advanced role by manager Antonio Conte, continues to show what the Red Devils are missing, scoring 17 goals in 50 appearances for Napoli.
It’s not just at club level that the United academy graduate has impressed. McTominay is a talisman for Scotland, as his stunning bicycle kick put Scotland ahead in Tuesday night’s winner-take-all World Cup qualifier against Denmark.
A dramatic 4-2 win at Hampden Park raised further questions about why United sold him. If it were up to Matic, who played alongside McTominay for five years, he would still be at Old Trafford.
“In my opinion, #manutd made the mistake of selling Scott McTominay. It’s difficult to replace a player like him today,” the Serbian wrote on X when the transfer was completed. “Conte is a smart man.”
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Shortly after Matic’s claims, Ten Hag admitted he did not want McTominay to leave. The Red Devils manager, who was sacked two months after the 28-year-old was sold, pointed to Premier League rules regarding academy products.
“Under the current PSR rules, the sale of a graduate is considered a 100 per cent profit and United desperately needed the cash. Unfortunately, that is the rule,” Ten Hag lamented. “You have to talk about the rules in order to sell, and of course fresh players and academy players bring more value.
“This is not the right thing to do, but for everyone, for every part, this is a good deal. For Scott, he is happy with it. Of course, for Napoli he is a very good player, but also for us.”
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The Dutchman added: “I’m very happy for him and for us, but I have mixed feelings because I didn’t want to lose him. Manchester United is in his blood… He was very important to our team. He was at Manchester United for over 22 years.”
McTominay felt the time was right for a new challenge, saying: “It was a mutual decision. We said, “This is an opportunity, do you want to go?”
“Obviously, from their side, we know that FFP is difficult. It’s not easy for clubs to make decisions about homegrown players, but that was never in my thought process. My thought process was coming here looking at the fans, watching the coaches and hopefully doing something really good.”
He added: “I had to go see everyone on the last day and it wasn’t easy to say goodbye. But that’s football. That’s life. I talked to him (ten Hag) and he expressed his thoughts on the situation. I said, ‘Listen, this is my career, I’m here to push myself.’
“In this situation, I have to look out for number one and act on my intuition of what I want to do with my career without being hindered by other external factors.
“It’s been friendly. I love that football club. It’s been my life for 22 years and now I’ve moved on. I’m really enjoying it here.”
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