Serie A 2024-25: Napoli to take late call on McTominay for Fiorentina clash
Serie A 2024-25: Napoli to take late call on McTominay for Fiorentina clash
Napoli midfielder Scott McTominay is struggling due to fatigue and the Scotland international is a doubt for the home Serie A clash with Fiorentina, manager Antonio Conte said on Saturday.
McTominay, who joined from Manchester United in a deal worth 30.5 million euros ($33.04 million) last year, has made 29 appearances and scored seven goals in all competitions – two fewer than leading scorer Romelu Lukaku.
“(McTominay) had an overload, a couple of days he trained a little less than the others. We have 24 hours and we’ll evaluate the best solution together with the boy,” Conte told reporters.
“(Billy) Gilmour did great against Inter and I was clear with the lads, in the last 11, whoever deserves to play plays, there is no fixed place. There are 11 games, 11 battles, 11 finals, there are no credits.”
Napoli, which is second with 57 points and trails leader Inter Milan by a point, will aim for its first win since late January when it welcomes seventh-placed Fiorentina on Sunday.
Conte said it was vital for Napoli to snap their winless run, adding: “Every game we have to look for the three points.
“Often we have succeeded, other times we have struggled more like in the last month in which we had four draws and a defeat.
“It’s part of the path of a championship and we have to work, recover everyone, try to make choices from all points of view. In some moments we have to be good, to grit our teeth.”
Napoli has scored 43 league goals in 27 matches this season, the fewest of any team in the top five.
Asked how it could improve its attacking output, Conte pointed to the profiles of the players in the squad, saying: “If you look at the statistics of the squad and you don’t find many players with a CV with a lot of goals, we can’t invent goals.
“We can work on it to increase a player’s totals but if someone scores one or two goals a year you can’t expect them to score 10 … When you build teams you have to put in many ingredients.”
Published on Mar 08, 2025
