Sir Alex Ferguson always believed Scott McTominay was built for Manchester United. Now, after Scotland’s World Cup heroics and a title-winning season in Naples, it’s starting to look like United massively underestimated just how good he could be.
The 28-year-old has just produced the moment of his career, scoring a ridiculous overhead kick in Scotland’s wild 4–2 win over Denmark at Hampden to book a first World Cup spot since 1998. Already a champion and MVP in Serie A with Napoli, McTominay is suddenly the poster boy for a Scotland side that refuses to go away quietly.
It’s a long way from the academy kid Fergie first backed.
The former United boss was talking McTominay up years ago, insisting the midfielder would grow into one of the club’s main men. He loved the attitude, the engine, the willingness to do the ugly work and still step up on big nights. For Ferguson, McTominay was exactly the type of character United should be built around.
United didn’t quite see it that way when the PSR maths started biting.
In August 2024, McTominay was sold to Napoli for around £25.7m – a fee boosted by his homegrown status and United’s need to balance the books. Erik ten Hag admitted at the time he’d rather have kept him, calling the decision “mixed” and describing McTominay as “Manchester United in everything”. The problem wasn’t the player – it was the rules, and the premium attached to academy products.
Napoli didn’t complain. McTominay walked into Antonio Conte’s side, powered them to the title and walked off with Serie A’s MVP award. Now he’s sent his country to a World Cup with one of the goals of qualifying. That’s not just a decent move – that’s a full-blown career reset.
Back in Manchester, United’s midfield has stumbled through another rebuild while one of their own dominates in Italy and on the international stage. Every spectacular strike, every big-game performance and now this overhead kick for Scotland twists the knife a little further.
Ferguson called it early. McTominay had the mentality, the physicality and the personality to be a cornerstone at Old Trafford. United chose the balance sheet. Scotland and Napoli are cashing in on the player he’s become.
