SHARE

“SCOTT, SCOTT, SCOTT, SCOTT, SCOTT,” chanted Napoli’s fans as Mr. McTominay left Capodichino Airport and got into a minivan.

He’d just alighted from a private jet, accompanied by his girlfriend Cam Reading and others. With shorts on ready for 32°C and wall to wall sunshine, the Manchester United (as he still is) midfielder was then alone aside from security as he walked through adoring fans to his next mode of transport.

This wasn’t a Besiktas level welcome where they bring the airport to a standstill, however, it was incredibly enthusiastic by western European standards.

Bundled into the minivan, McTominay took a breath before flashing a huge smile and shouting FORZA NAPOLI. And it felt like right there and then a legend may have been born.

So again they went off, like a flock of enthusiastic Italian seagulls: “SCOTT, SCOTT, SCOTT, SCOTT, SCOTT.”

That huge smile returned to the Scotland international’s face before he was whisked off for the remainder of his journey.

He’s staying at the Grand Hotel Parker’s which overlooks the Golfo di Napoli. A crowd of fans gathered there too, and the 27-year-old, this time with sunglasses and hopefully Factor 50, took to his balcony and waved to his adoring public.

Romelu Lukaku was announced as a Napoli player today, and he’s staying at the same hotel, but there just seems to be something about the Manchester United youth product which has caught the imagination in Naples.

Hopefully he can grasp that and become akin to Dries Mertens in the hearts of the Serie A club’s fans. The Belgian attacker was hugely loved and not just for his exploits on the pitch. He threw himself into Naples life, living overlooking the sea and often communicating with the locals from his terrace.

Fans nicknamed him Ciro, and it stuck. A good explanation of the relationship comes from Goal Italia: ‘To explain Mertens’ Neapolitanness, you have to go there, to Naples, to what has become his world, a world in which he has fully integrated. He lives in the heart of the city, in Posillipo, in a residence overlooking the sea that offers one of the most beautiful views on the planet. Views that he seasons with the relationships he has managed to create, with the spaghetti with tomato sauce and basil that he loves so much, with the greetings that he doesn’t deny to anyone, with that kindness that has often led him physically to help those most in need, perhaps giving them a few pizzas that would have made the night less hard.’

There’s now a few children in the area named Ciro Dries, such is the high regard Mertens, who still owns his property and visits when he has time off from Galatasaray, is held in.

Scott McTominay has quite some way to go to get anywhere near that, but there’s clearly a connection there right from the off.

Tomorrow he’ll have his medical at 9am, at Clinica Pineta Grande.

 

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR