Superstar striker Romelu Lukaku has predicted Scott McTominay will score a barrowload of goals after the Scotland star continued his stunning start to life in Italy with a quickfire strike to extend Napoli’s lead at the Serie A summit.
McTominay scored his second goal for Napoli with just 25 seconds on the clock while Belgian frontman Lukaku also netted along with David Neres in the 3-1 win over Como. Lukaku knows the 27-year-old well from their time together at Manchester United and reckons they can form a formidable partnership for Antonio Conte’s men.
Lukaku, who signed for £25million in the summer from Chelsea, told Sky Italia: “He knows my game, we played together in Manchester for two years. I know his ability in front of goal is lethal, we expect many goals and assists from him. He is doing very well and must continue like this.”
McTominay opened the scoring when he fired the ball into the net off a post from inside the box after being teed up by a pass from Lukaku. The Belgian has high hopes for himself this season, adding: “I arrived late, but I’m already integrated, all thanks to my teammates, the technical staff and the fans. We have to continue like this, we’ve won again. Now we all go to the national team and then those of us who remain here will continue to work and prepare for the next games.”
McTominay, in Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad for this month’s Nations League double header against Croatia and Portugal, has hit the ground running since making the £30m switch to Serie A from Manchester United.
He scored his first goal for the Neapolitans in the Coppa Italia win over Palermo and Conte said recently he has “goals in his blood”.
After topping the Scotland scoring charts for Euro 2024 qualification and netting our only goal during a miserable fianls experience, McTominay was back on target for his country in the Nations League with a fine header to put Clarke’s men 1-0 up in Lisbon before a second half turn around capped by a late Ronaldo winner.
And Napoli boss Antonio Conte reckons goalscoring is part of his new midfielder’s DNA. “Scott is a player who has goals in his blood; he’s very good at making runs into the box,” he said. “He has excellent technical qualities, as well as an important physical stature. And he’s strong in the air. In his DNA, he has quite a few goals.”