Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour may not be immediate starters at Napoli, but Stephen Kasiewicz suggests Antonio Conte has multiple options to deploy the Scottish duo.
Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour became the first Scots to sign for Napoli when they completed moves to Italy at the end of an agonizingly slow summer transfer window. The midfield pair will make history if they feature for the Partenopei at Cagliari on Sunday.
Yet it remains to be seen how coach Antonio Conte will integrate and utilize the Scottish internationals into an already richly talented squad.
Conte prioritized the captures of the former Manchester United and Brighton and Hove Albion players as president Aurelio De Laurentiis sanctioned a costly player overhaul at Napoli.
McTominay and Gilmour joined a growing list of Scots in Serie A along with Lewis Ferguson (Bologna), Che Adams (Torino) and Liam Henderson (Empoli) in the Italian top flight.
Neither would have moved to the Campania-based club to be mere benchwarmers.
A position as a permanent backup would not convince any player to leave the English Premier League for Italy.
However, former Napoli legend Marek Hamsik does not believe McTominay should be considered an immediate first-team certainty, while Gilmour is unlikely to be satisfied with the role of deputy to irreplaceable starter Stanislav Lobotka.
Conte’s meticulous approach rarely deviates from a set structure yet both McTominay and Gilmour give the experienced tactician a cornucopia of fresh options.
Whether the former Juventus, Inter and Italy coach tweaks his favoured formation, switches personnel or adjusts specific player positioning, there is far more room for variation after a productive transfer window.
There is every possibility that Gilmour could combine with Lobotka to form a defensive shield in front of the Napoli back three. Rather than serve as a patient understudy the Scot could easily coexist with the Slovakian midfield stalwart.
A midfield orchestrator with an expansive passing arsenal, Gilmour has flourished in establishing the tempo and rhythm from the middle of the park for both Brighton and Scotland.
The 23-year-old has previous experience of working with Conte after emerging from the youth ranks at Chelsea and will not be fazed by the coach’s notoriously intense training methods.
McTominay is not expected to instantly displace Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa in the Napoli starting line-up. However, the ex-Manchester United midfielder offers a genuine goal scoring threat in a barren area for the Partenopei.
Neither Lobotka nor Anguissa thrived in front of goal in last year’s woeful campaign.
It is not part of the Slovak’s remit to advance forward regularly and unsurprisingly he has netted just twice since joining Napoli in January 2020.
Anguissa claimed a dramatic late winner as Napoli found a way past 10 man Parma before the international break, yet he failed to register a single league goal last term.
Incisive in the final third and adept at well-timed surges from deep, McTominay has thrived in an advanced midfield assignment for club and country.
It is hard to believe that Scotland once deployed the 27-year-old as a temporary centre-back before quickly realizing his talents were better used nearer to the opposition goal.
The hero of the Scottish Euro 2024 qualifying campaign has struck a staggering 10 goals in his last 17 international appearances and netted seven times for the Red Devils in the 2023-2024 EPL term.
McTominay spent the entirety of his professional career at United after progressing through the youth ranks at the Old Trafford club’s renowned academy.
Yet it’s evident that he is ready to embrace everything about the Gli Azzurri after his €30.5m move from England.
Conte could give McTominay an attacking oriented assignment in front of any combination of Lobotka, Anguissa or Gilmour. There is also the scope to play all four together as part of a radical team revamp.
The 6ft 4in McTominay is also capable of operating as a second striker alongside Romelu Lukaku.
Regardless of how the Napoli coach configures his new look team, the additions of the multiskilled Scottish duo provides an abundance of quality and plethora of choices in what promises to be a testing and arduous season.
