Ten Hag calls McTominay sale to Napoli 'disappointing and embarrassing'

The former Manchester United coach says the Scotland midfielder was sold against what he and the club had agreed. Two years on, McTominay is the player Napoli lean on, with Roma at the Maradona on Saturday 24 October.

by Gennaro SanninoWednesday 21 October, 23:05 CET· yesterday

Erik ten Hag — Foto: Olga Shcherbytska · CC BY-SA 4.0

Erik ten Hag says Manchester United had decided to keep Scott McTominay. Then they sold him to Napoli.

The Dutch coach was in charge of McTominay in the summer of 2024. Looking back on the sale, he puts the blame on the people running United at the time: "We had decided together with the club not to sell him. A few weeks later, the board sold him to Napoli… for me it was a disappointing and embarrassing moment."

The meeting in Ibiza and the decision to keep him were already known. What is new is the accusation: ten Hag says the club did the opposite of what it had agreed with him. That is United's business. But it confirms something Napoli supporters already understood. McTominay arrived for around €30m because someone in Manchester overruled his coach.

The player holding Napoli up

Two years later, the player United's coach did not want to sell is the one carrying Napoli. Against Bodø/Glimt on Tuesday 20 October he scored in the 41st minute from a De Bruyne assist and in the 75th from a Politano assist, and hit the crossbar in between.

He did it after an operation for an arrhythmia on 8 September. He has only been cleared to play since 8 October, and Allegri himself has admitted he is not yet at 100%. His contract runs until 30 June 2028, and on 13 October Giovanni Manna said: "He wants to stay with us."

That is why ten Hag's words bring more worry than pride. If a midfielder just back from heart surgery has to decide every match, the problem is not who sold him. It is what surrounds him.

Despite his two goals on Tuesday, Bodø/Glimt scored three times against Napoli, and it took an 88th-minute own goal by Bjørtuft to win. In the league, Napoli are ninth with 10 points after seven matches.

Roma next

On Saturday 24 October at 18:00 CET (17:00 UK, 12:00 ET), Gasperini's Roma come to the Maradona, third with 17 points. It is the match the club has tied to its second review of Allegri.

Ten Hag can regret losing McTominay as much as he likes. What Napoli need on Saturday is for McTominay not to be the only one holding the team together again.