Napoli market, strategy pops up to armor Scott McTominay
Calciomercato Napoli: Scott McTominay was one of the great protagonists of the Scudetto won by the Azzurri in 2024-2025 and has regained a central role in the team’s fortunes with the absolute level performance provided on Friday night against Cremonese. For this reason, the issue of his contract renewal is back on the agenda, with the Parthenopean management moving to avoid the risk of losing one of its iconic players in the future.
The knot does not lie in McTominay’s contractual expiration, set for June 2028, as much as in the strong Scottish player’s salary. Indeed, the former Manchester United player earns a lower seasonal figure not only than other top international players, but also than some of his teammates at Napoli. This is a clear aspect to the club, which fears foreign sirens may present themselves that would induce him to ask for a change of scenery at the end of the season.
For this reason, Ds Giovanni Manna is working to armor McTominay at Napoli. According to what has been gathered by the Neapolitan newspaper ‘Il Mattino,’ the hypothesis of a contract extension until 2029 is only one aspect of the operation. The club, in particular, wants to increase the 1996-class midfielder’s salary also to show him the specific weight he has and would continue to carve out in the team’s technical project.
Negotiations between the parties seem to be proceeding in an atmosphere of mutual trust. In February, according to reports in the ‘Corriere dello Sport,’ the midfielder’s agent Colin Murdock had already met with ds Manna to discuss figures, prospects and duration of the new agreement, with the stated ambition of building the Napoli of the future around his figure. At that stage, there was even talk of an extension until 2030, a sign of how much the Neapolitan club considers the Scot an indispensable pillar of its project.
The same Manna, asked on the subject in mid-March at the microphones of ‘SportMediaset,’ had used reassuring tones: “Scott is an important footballer, he is happy to be in Naples, I think he shows it when he plays and when he lives the city. He still has two years left on his contract, we have an extremely clear and frank relationship with him. We are talking, it is not a current topic. We know the importance of Scott, to date we have not received any offers also because the player has never expressed a desire to change air.” Words that outline a serene picture, but that do not exclude the need to formalize soon an agreement that would definitively shelter Napoli from any external temptations.
McTominay’s centrality in the Azzurri project is, moreover, also confirmed by this season’s numbers. The midfielder has already reached double digits in the league, sharing the top scorer’s mark in the Napoli household with center forward Rasmus Hojlund. His technical, tactical and physical completeness has made him indispensable in Antonio Conte’s eyes, so much so that he has earned the role of emotional as well as technical leader of the team. It is no coincidence that, even in a season conditioned by a gluteus tendon injury that kept him out in February, his contribution to the Parthenopean cause has remained crucial.
McTominay’s renewal is part of a broader framework of planning that Napoli is pursuing ahead of next season. Parallel to the Scottish issue, the management is also closely following the situation of Leon Goretzka, a midfielder expiring in June with Bayern Munich: a profile that Manna considers a concrete opportunity to further strengthen the Azzurri’s midfield. On the other hand, the future of Frank Anguissa, whose contractual situation is complicated by the injury suffered in November with the national team, still remains unresolved. One more rebus for the Neapolitan ds, who will have to carefully manage every piece of a midfield that, with McTominay armored, would already have its cornerstone secured.
