Mark Langdon: The secret sauce behind Napoli's Scudetto charge

Is Scott McTominay the new Diego Maradona?

The obvious answer is no, but bear with me on this one. Maradona was the catalyst behind Napoli's Serie A triumphs in 1987 and 1990 and McTominay is doing the same decades later.

McTominay always felt like a gentle figure of fun when playing for Manchester United, a symbol of how far they had fallen since dominating English football under Sir Alex Ferguson, and even the nickname of McSauce felt slightly condescending. 

Paul Pogba was supposed to bring the sauce to the United midfield and McTominay, if anything, was the anti-Pogba of all substance over style. The Old Trafford loyalists liked McTominay and many will remember that Ferguson always found a space in his squad for that type of player. John O'Shea and Darren Fletcher are two who spring to mind, both of whom ran through walls for the club to allow the more gifted technicians the platform to win trophies galore.

But overall, he was not appreciated and social media ribbing meant there were few tears shed when McTominay packed his bags and headed to Naples last summer for not much more than a quarter of what United paid for Pogba. There isn't enough space to list all of the other wasted millions who cost much more than the £25m outlay it took for the Scot to move Serie A. 

Napoli's return on investment has been extraordinary and with four matches remaining Antonio Conte's team find themselves three points clear at the summit and with a favourable fixture list. Three wins and a draw from fixtures at Lecce and Parma plus home dates with Genoa and Cagliari will make McTominay a Scudetto winner and if they do get over the line it will be all the more remarkable given Conte lost star striker Victor Osimhen at the beginning of the season and his best player, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, to Paris St-Germain in January.

McTominay is no Kvaratskhelia (weirdly the locals seem to have more trouble pronouncing his name than the Georgian's) but his influence on Napoli should not be understated. Only seven players have scored more goals than McTominay's tally of 11 this season in Serie A and teammate Romelu Lukaku's 12-goal haul includes three penalties. 

Five of McTominay's goals have come in his last three appearances, including the winner at Monza and both goals in Sunday's 2-0 success over Torino which enabled Napoli to pull clear of Inter at the top.

Those are not the only massive goals in the campaign. He notched the equaliser at Inter earlier in the season and was also on target in a victory away to third-placed Atalanta which has helped McTominay to win the hearts of Neapolitans. One TV presenter referred to him as apribottiglia – the bottle opener – because of his ability to score the first goal in matches.

They might not be rushing out to paint over the Maradona murals with McTominay's face just yet, but his desire to learn the language and throw himself into the culture has been welcomed almost as much as his vital on-field contributions, and Conte is increasingly relying on the 28-year-old as the influential midfield runner supporting target-man striker Lukaku in a 4-3-3 formation that is a shift for a coach renowned for a back three.

The McSauce nickname has not travelled with McTominay to Italy – instead they go for McFratm which means McBro or McBrother – and maybe for United it's a case of you don't know what you've got until it's gone.

Read more from Mark Langdon:

Mark Langdon: No magic from Graham Potter at West Ham 

Mark Langdon: Cup runs can't compensate for league losses 

Mark Langdon: How does Mohamed Salah's new deal impact next season's title betting? 

The numbers behind Illan Meslier's Leeds axe 

"Future of football" Andoni Iraola is a manager in demand 

Paris St-Germain are finally winning hearts 

The numbers behind Burnley's remarkable defence 

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