Scott McTominay has rejected talk of a return to Manchester United and set out a clear intention to remain at Napoli. The midfielder, who has been reshaped under Antonio Conte, said he is fully focused on his current club and could see himself staying there for an extended period.

Conte has overseen a significant change in McTominay’s game since his arrival. Crowned Serie A’s Player of the Year after a debut campaign that finished with the title, McTominay has again reached double figures this season despite operating in a deeper role and playing almost the entire campaign while partially injured. That consistency has come at a time when Manchester United have collectively struggled, prompting speculation about a possible homecoming for the Lancaster lad.

“My agent has not communicated with anyone regarding my future,” McTominay told Corriere dello Sport this week. “He only speaks with me and with the club. He hasn’t said anything to the newspapers. I am extremely happy here and, as far as I am concerned, I am a Napoli player; it is all I think about.

“The future is very important, and I could see myself in Napoli for a long time.”

There is an old Italian saying: La minestra riscaldata non è mai buona. Reheated soup is never good. The sentiment is used here to underline the idea that a return to a former club is not always the best path.

Napoli’s injury problems have required McTominay to adopt a more measured role this term, yet his box-to-box instincts remain an asset. Napoli’s coach celebrated that evolution earlier in the season. “In this year and a half, [McTominay] became a complete player,” Napoli’s coach boasted earlier this year. “When I was in England and faced him as an opponent, I always saw his quality, but always one part of his quality—especially to attack the box and score.

“Instead, we worked with him on the buildup and construction, and I tried [with] difficulty also to transform him into a complete player. He now plays with [Stanislav] Lobotka as two midfielders, and he has improved a lot in the buildup. At the same time, he has never lost the possibility to attack, to be a box-to-box player. Now he is, in my opinion, a really, really top player for an important club.”

McTominay is 29 and under contract until the summer of 2028. Napoli have shown resistance to Premier League financial pressure, and any move to bring their former No. 39 back to Manchester would require a significant outlay. For now, McTominay’s public position is unambiguous: Napoli is where his attention lies.

Napoli sporting director Giovanni Manna has told journalists that the club’s loan signing of Rasmus Højlund is expected to become permanent, describing the outcome as largely settled.

Højlund has scored nine times across all competitions for Antonio Conte’s side and collected the 2025–26 Supercoppa Italiana following the final victory over Bologona. After the game the striker posted a photo of himself with the trophy alongside the caption: “What a great decision looks like.”

When asked by Corriere dello Sport if the permanent transfer was a formality, Manna replied: “As of today, I think so.” He added: “There’s an option to buy and an obligation to buy if we qualify for the Champions League. The player considers himself a Napoli player, and the same goes for us. This is extremely important.”

The financial swing will be notable. United paid an initial fee of £64 million ($86 million) to sign Højlund from Atalanta in 2023, yet Napoli are expected to secure the forward for roughly £38 million. The deal will be viewed as another major blunder for the Red Devils during an era characterised by dismal recruitment at Old Trafford.

Højlund’s career at United drew intense scrutiny after two inconsistent seasons. He followed a 16-goal debut campaign with just 10 strikes last term and struggled under Ruben Amorim alongside Joshua Zirkzee, prompting questions about his form before the loan move to Napoli. The Denmark international has rejected the notion that he underperformed at Manchester United.

Hojlund revealed : “It was a lot of attention and a lot of pressure, obviously. But I feel like it was hard for me not to take that step as I was a United fan. And I feel like I did well.

“You could argue I probably needed a year [more at Atalanta] or whatever, but I feel like it was the right step for me,” he added. “And like I said, I think I did well in my first year, especially, where I became top scorer and in the team and had a good campaign in the Champions League and so on, and won a trophy with the guys.”

Rasmus Højlund has repeatedly been his own toughest critic, but he has also accepted the burden that comes with rapid advancement and high expectation. He moved from FC Copenhagen’s academy into senior football, spent six months skirting the first team before a spell at Sturm Graz, and after one season in Serie A with Atalanta he signed for Manchester United in 2023 at the age of 20.

He called the leap from reserve to United’s starting striker “a little bit surrealistic” at the time and now stands by the decision to make that jump. “You could argue I probably needed a year or whatever, but I feel like it was the right step for me,” he says. “And like I said, I think I did well in my first year, especially, where I became top scorer and in the team and had a good campaign in the Champions League and so on, and won a trophy with the guys.”

His debut Premier League season featured a slow start, with his first top-flight goal arriving on Boxing Day, but it was offset by a strong Champions League group stage in 2023–24 when he scored five times in six games. He also came off the bench in the second half of the 2024 FA Cup final, which United won against Manchester City.

“The pressure is big and and you learn from that,” Højlund sagely reflects. “You take that, you put that in your bag. And you just learn from it, get more used to it and grow with it.”

Statistic (All Comps)
Højlund Value
Squad Rank
Appearances 43 =5th
Starts 35 =5th
Goals 16 1st
Total Shots 57 6th
Assists 2 =9th
Stats via FBref.

Now with Napoli, who would be obliged to trigger a buy clause worth around £38 million should they qualify for the Champions League this season, Højlund stresses his commitment while remaining technically a Manchester United player. “All of them are more or less my friends,” he says. “So obviously I’m still watching them and wishing them good luck every time they play.”

He has already bettered his final Premier League campaign goal tally and is central to Napoli’s defence of their Serie A title. Under Antonio Conte he continues to push himself. “I think proving it for yourself it’s the most important one,” he says, “because if you prove it to yourself, I think you prove it to the rest of the world as well, because I got very high expectations for myself.

“I like to put the bar high, because then you push yourself as much as possible. Whereas if you reach a goal, like, let’s just say early in the season … then you would probably automatically lean back. Whereas if you focus in on I’m not saying the impossible but like try to hit, almost impossible…”