Man Utd myth busted by Scott McTominay as Napoli star explains ‘improvement’ claim

Robin Bairner

20 Dec 2025 11:14 GMT
3 min read

Scott McTominay, Napoli, Man Utd — © IMAGO

Scott McTominay says that there is no truth to the claim that players get better when they leave Manchester United.

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Since moving to Napoli in the summer of 2024 for a fee of €30.5 million, McTominay has emerged as one of the biggest stars in the world game. He led his club to the Serie A title amid a flurry of goals, while he was a key figure for Scotland as Steve Clarke’s side charged to their first World Cup finals since 1998.

The Man Utd academy graduate has become a poster boy for those who feel that players improve when they leave Old Trafford, but the 29-year-old rejects this claim out of hand, also citing the case of Marcus Rashford in the process.

Current ETV

Scott McTominay

M (CL), DM (C)

Napoli

Scott McTominay

M (CL), DM (C)

Napoli

ETV Range

€49.6M - €60.6M

“It's just too easy of an excuse to say: ‘Oh, they left Man United and now they're doing well.’

“In my last year, I did well. I scored 10 goals and we won a trophy, and with Marcus, obviously there was different issues which might have transpired, which we won't go into. However, Marcus is a top player, and he's always been a top player. He was one of the club legends. He scored so many goals for United, done so many great things.”

McTominay reveals why players seem better away from Man Utd

So what’s McTominay’s reasoning for the phenomenon that players appear to improve away from Old Trafford?

“Because the spotlight's directly on you, it makes it seem a lot worse, in my opinion. Obviously, when players go away and they're playing more games, they're going to have an increase in confidence and feel better about themselves rather than playing less minutes in my United, for example. But when you are at my United, you have to earn those minutes, like Bruno Fernandes, who's done incredible,” he said.

“And for me, I think it's too easy an excuse to blame Man United as a club, because whenever I was there, they did everything for me. They helped me with nutrition, they helped me with training, they helped me tactically, whoever the manager was there. Everything is put there for you to succeed. It's not like they don't give you certain things that other clubs do. They do.

“So the myth of players going away and they're better players comes down to confidence. If you're going away and you're playing every single game and you score, you feel good about yourself and you want to continue in that.”

McTominay has certainly thrived since leaving United, with his Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) climbing to a career-high €55.1m.

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