So quickly has Scott McTominay won over Napoli fans that, for some supporters, he has already attained greater icon status than the famous Neapolitan pizza.
‘Napoli. McTominay. Pizza. In that order,’ reads a huge club flag on the wall of one restaurant run by a fan.
It sounds dramatic but it is credit to McTominay that, within six months of joining from Manchester United, he has the fanbase wrapped around his little finger.
The feeling is mutual. McTominay is enthralled by the city and the club. He has had a glowing start to life out in Italy alongside his girlfriend, Cam Reading, an asset manager.
In the coastal southern city of Naples, where average summer temperatures sizzle to 31 degrees and the centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, there is a world of possibility for the lovebirds to explore.
There are also boundless possibilities on the pitch, with McTominay one of the key men behind Napoli’s Serie A title tilt under Antonio Conte. They currently lead Inter Milan by a point.
Scott McTominay and his girlfriend Cam Reading are loving life in Italy after he joined Napoli
The pair have been exploring the possibilities that life in southern Italy has to offer
McTominay has become a fan-favourite at Napoli thanks to his goalscoring and work ethic
As the pair enjoyed a canape and looked across the Amalfi coast in September, Reading declared on Instagram that they had already ‘fallen in love with Italy’. They sat in a restaurant atop a medieval tower facing south as the Mediterranean Sea glittered with late summer promise.
One fan in the comments section dubbed Reading the ‘Queen of Italy’ and you can make a case that McTominay is on his way to becoming the King.
The Scot has already scored seven goals, including one against title rivals Inter and another within 25 seconds against Como near the start of the season.
Manchester United miss the goals he chipped in with last campaign – 10 in all – and he could well surpass that in the blue strip of Napoli this term.
The Italian press cannot stop gushing over him. ‘The new leader of Napoli,’ Corriere dello Sport hailed him in December. ‘Idol of the fans, loved by his team-mates,’ they also scribbled. La Gazzetta dello Sport see him as practically undroppable: ‘an immovable pawn on the Napoli chessboard,’ they wrote.
It helps that McTominay has familiar faces out there. Former United team-mate Romelu Lukaku is the top scorer this season, having banged in nine goals.
He also has one of his close friends from the Scottish national team, Billy Gilmour.
The duo spent time together over Christmas alongside Gilmour’s Staffordshire bull terrier Buddy, with McTominay in a historic Napoli kit.
One pizza restaurant run by a supporter even places McTominay above the region’s cuisine
McTominay and Reading are said to have moved into a coastal town and both claim to ‘love’ life
He bagged a goal within 25 seconds against Como and has been scoring freely since then
He opted for the 1987-88 jersey, one close to the hearts of Napoli fans because Diego Maradona used to wear it. That season Gli Azzurri could only finish second, but there was no doubt that it was a great team, having done the double the year before.
McTominay is said to have become quite emotional upon seeing Maradona’s statue for the first time at the eponymous stadium, clearly respectful of the glorious past this club has.
Conte takes the development of his players to heart and has been making sure the pair integrate as well as they can by teaching them Italian.
‘The coach has been really good. Of course, I don’t speak Italian yet, and I need to learn, but he’s been helping me in training,’ Gilmour told DAZN earlier this season.
McTominay also said: ‘Italian is not easy, because I speak fast. But whenever I listen to people in Italian, they speak very fast!
‘I (have) picked up little bits in training sessions, the hotel, in the city.’
The 28-year-old teased fans with a little linguistic twirl in January when he wished Reading happy birthday in January – in Italian.
‘Buon Compleanno, tutto il mio amore nel mondo,’ he wrote. In Scottish: ‘Happy birthday, all my love in the world.’
It helps that he has Scotland team-mate Billy Gilmour alongside him in the famous blue
Napoli manager Antonio Conte has been teaching the pair Italian and has them top of Serie A
Reading, a director at an asset management firm, has been with McTominay since at least 2023
It is not exactly clear when or how McTominay and Reading first crossed paths but they have at least been together since the summer of 2023, when they were pictured on a boat trip in Greece.
Reading, a director at asset management firm Fortress Capital partners, has seen her personal celebrity skyrocket in that time, zooming up from 10,000 Instagram followers to over 60,000.
According to La Repubblica, they have moved into a house by Lago Patria, a coastal lake near the suburb of Giugliano.
There, McTominay can be by the seaside quickly after popping out of his door and is only around a 20-minute drive from Napoli’s training centre.
Reading has made the most of Italy’s beautiful cities and countryside vistas, enjoying trips out to Florence, Capri, and Positano, a steep seaside local fashion capital where the Rolling Stones once penned their song ‘Midnight Rambler’. She and McTominay have also dined in the shadow of Milan’s great cathedral.
You’d think it was a big call to leave behind United, having been with the club since 2002. In his final season McTominay expanded his reputation. No longer was he just a dependable stalwart, but something of a talisman.
In the end, however, he didn’t lose much sleep over the call. He said: ‘The pride of playing here is really special and when I found out that Napoli was interested in me I felt the fire inside me.
‘I wanted to come here and push as much as possible because the fans are crazy, I would say they are some of the best fans I have ever seen. Incredible.
When she can, Reading has been making trips to Italian tourist destinations such as Florence
McTominay says the fans are ‘some of the best’ he has seen and that he has no regrets
Former Manchester United team-mate Romelu Lukaku has also helped McTominay settle in
McTominay is reported to have grown emotional upon seeing Maradona’s statue in Naples
‘I can’t talk enough about the fans, the people, the city and the welcome that my teammates and coaches gave me.’
He also told BBC Scotland: ‘It was a big decision, but in some ways it was quite straightforward.
‘I saw the passionate fans, I saw the coach, I saw the players and I saw an opportunity.
‘I took it. I didn’t look back. It didn’t take me long to make the decision because I knew that was what I wanted and I’ll never have any regrets in my life.
‘I love this place. I love the fans, I love my team-mates. It has been a pleasure to be with Billy every day rather than just seeing him at Scotland and we have helped each other a lot.
‘It was amicable. I love that football club (United) to bits, they have been my life for 22 years, but I have moved on now. I am thoroughly enjoying myself here.’
It seems to be a match made in the stars. McTominay kissed the badge after scoring his first goal against Como in September and they have flowed since then.
In fact, it emerged the other day that he has more league goals this season than Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee combined. Not bad for a £25.7million spend, considering Hojlund and Zirkzee cost United £108.5 combined.
Of course, the move has required him to adapt. A few weeks after his move, reports in Italy claimed that McTominay had been placed ‘at risk’ for his diet and that he would be a note each day instructing him what he can and cannot eat at home.
Conte is a proponent of the ‘Bresaola diet’, meaning fried food, mozzarella and alcohol are firmly off the menu, while a Mediterranean menu of vegetables and protein-rich white meats such as turkey and chicken are on the table.
It has worked in the past for Lukaku and looks to have worked a treat for McTominay – even if he can’t tuck into the Neapolitan pizza he has been exalted above by fans.