Midfielder Scott McTominay completed a move from Manchester United to Napoli in the summer of 2024 and enjoyed a hugely successful first season with his new club
09:20, 13 Nov 2025
Scott McTominay played 115 times for United under the management of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. (Image: Martin Rickett/PA Wire)
Former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted that the club’s sale of academy graduate Scott McTominay to Napoli left him massively surprised.
The midfielder completed a move to the Serie A side in the summer of 2024, with United receiving a fee of £25.4million (€30m). He has since impressed in Italy and went on to help his new side win the league title last season.
After making his debut under Jose Mourinho, it was Solskjaer who the midfielder made the most appearances for during his time at United. He was involved in a total of 115 games under the Norwegian, scoring 14 times.
The ex-United boss, who was sacked back in November 2021, has now given his thoughts on the sale of McTominay and outlined why he probably wasn’t able to get the best out of him.
“I was almost shocked because you need or want a core of the local lads, ones who get the club. Scott did,” he said on the Stick to Football podcast.
“For me, I think he’s shown in Italy how good of a player he is. His character, personality around the place, he sets the standards and he’d survive when we played 100 per cent.
Scott McTominay has impressed for Napoli since his move from Manchester United. (Image: Timothy Rogers/Getty Images)
“He was voted Serie A Player of the Year last year and won the league with Napoli so he’s one of them that you only know when you’ve got him, how good he is and how important he can be.
“In my squad, Scotty probably wasn’t allowed to play in his best position enough, yeah [because of] Bruno and maybe the lack of physicality that we had.
“You saw a couple of games against Leeds, we said: ‘Scott, this is a man-to-man game, we want you running through as a third man,’ and he scored, two or three, I can’t remember how many goals he scored against Leeds. That’s probably a reason because we think of him as… he’s one of the eights. Great physicality.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted his shock at Manchester United selling Scott McTominay(Image: Stick to Football/YouTube)
Former United captain Roy Keane added: “I’m always wary when lads leave, for a club like Napoli now but it’s a different challenge to Man United and he’s done well.
“Good luck to the lad but I still wasn’t hanging my hat on him every week going, ‘He will be the lad that will bring Man United back.’ When you’re classing him as a squad player and someone says, ‘Here’s £30m,’ it’s not a bad deal.”
In his first season with Napoli, he scored 12 Serie A goals in 34 appearances. So far this season he has scored four goals in 14 appearances in both Serie A and the Champions League.
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