Imagine the scene: It’s New Year’s Eve 2024, and Scott McTominay is at home in Naples, a drink in hand, as fireworks paint the sky in vibrant hues. As the clock ticks toward midnight, he scribbles down a resolution: “Score bicycle kicks to clinch the Serie A title and lead Scotland to World Cup glory.” With a chuckle, he crumples the paper and tosses it aside, telling himself, “Let’s be realistic, Scott.”

Yet, even the most ardent McTominay fans couldn’t have foreseen the events of 2025. His story seems straight out of a classic football comic, playing out under the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.

This isn’t an exaggeration. In a city where football heroes are revered like nowhere else, McTominay has become a legend. Known endearingly to the locals as McFratm, or “McBrother” in the Neapolitan dialect, he has etched his name into the annals of Napoli’s history.

His presence is inescapable across Naples’ historic and lively streets. From McFratm-themed mugs and t-shirts to flags, murals, tattoos, and even a dedicated shrine, his image has become a staple of the city.

His face is now ubiquitous on the city’s ancient, bustling streets. There are McFratm mugs, t-shirts, flags, murals, tattoos and even a dedicated shrine.

In Naples, McTominay has received levels of adoration and respect he never felt in more than two decades at Manchester United, while with Scotland he has become the talisman of a team that has made the Tartan Army dream again.

Yet for all of that, there remains a feeling that there’s much more to come as the Hogmanay bells approach again.

McTominay called leaving United, who he joined aged five, ‘a big decision, but in some ways quite straightforward’. ‘As soon as I put my mind to something I want to do, that’s it. There’s no holding me back,’ he said. He wasn’t joking.

Serial title-winning coach Antonio Conte’s arrival at the start of last season was a statement of intent from Napoli after their disastrous Scudetto defence ended with a 10th-place finish that left them out of Europe.

Conte was quick to recognise where his star signing’s strengths lay. The Scot was given licence to push up and support fellow new arrival Romelu Lukaku, make forays into the box and generally cause chaos in the final third.

Scotland fans may be well versed in McTominay’s attacking assets, but they had rarely been utilised at United, where McTominay himself has said he was ‘misprofiled’.

Conte took the shackles off and reaped the rewards as McTominay quickly proved himself one of the best attacking midfielders in Serie A, racking up three goals and three assists by the turn of the year.

It wasn’t just the football he was enjoying in his new home, though. ‘Oh my goodness, the tomatoes,’ he said in an April interview. ‘I never ate them at home; they’re just red water. Now I eat them as a snack.’

Form and diet were followed by fashion as McTominay’s Italian transformation continued. His particularly dapper summer outing at Wimbledon caught the eye, decked out in a sharp blue suit, pinstriped shirt and sunglasses that earned him a spot in GQ magazine’s list of the best-dressed men at the tournament alongside the likes of David Beckham and Andrew Garfield.

In Naples, though, his performances did the talking. Like all top players, McTominay produced his best stuff when it mattered most and came up big in the spring when Napoli’s title tilt wobbled with a run of one win in seven games.

The midfielder was named player of the month for April after scoring five goals that turned their season around: a brace in a 3-0 win against Empoli, the winner in a 1-0 victory over Monza and both goals in a 2-0 triumph over Torino.

Those McFratm-sealed nine points lifted Napoli back to the summit of Serie A for the first time in two months and earned him another evocative nickname: the apribottiglie — the bottle opener.

It came about thanks to McTominay’s uncanny ability to score in deadlocked games; going into the final week, seven of his 11 league strikes had been scored with games at 0-0.

By that point, McTominay was already Napoli’s undisputed star of the season. But they still required a win over Cagliari — or to better Inter’s result against Como — to seal their fourth Scudetto on the final day.

The city was in a febrile mood. Thousands of supporters had started an enormous street party by lunchtime. The city centre was decked out in tricolour bunting. Badges bearing the number four (for a fourth Scudetto) dangled over piazzas.

The carnival atmosphere made success seem inevitable, but there was a rude reminder that it wasn’t when Inter took the lead against Como. Napoli dropped to second in the live table to send a wave of nervous energy sweeping around the Stadio Maradona. Step up McTominay.

Matteo Politano scurried down the right wing, cut back onto his left and curled a cross towards a packed six-yard box where McTominay waited, surrounded by five Cagliari players, one touch-tight on his back.

He evaded their attention, leapt in the air and scissor-kicked a sublime finish into the back of the net. It will go down as one of the greatest goals in club history.

There was no looking back from there. The bottle-opener had struck, and Lukaku bagged a second to ensure the party could go on long into the night and for several more to come.

McTominay was lavished with praise in the Italian media after the stunning title win, praised as the ‘icon of this triumph’ by Corriere dello Sport. One report predicted a surge of newborn Neapolitans named Scott, while Gazzetta dello Sport wrote: ‘He went to Old Trafford as a child, only to discover that the real Theatre of Dreams was in Naples.’

Once the dust settled and the open-top bus parade was over, the most important development for McTominay and his fellow Scudetto heroes was the news that a jaded Conte would stay on after considering an early separation.

The former Chelsea and Tottenham boss was instrumental in McTominay’s rise, even though he admitted after the Scudetto triumph that he was as surprised as anyone to get the chance.

‘[Napoli director Giovanni Manna] told me it was a possible solution. Sometimes, directors make up stories to keep you calm,’ Conte said in the summer.

‘If you ask me: “Did you ever think McTominay would surely arrive?” I would say no. Don’t forget we were heading into a season without European trophies to play for, so he had to leave Manchester United to start over with us.’

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said what many in Manchester were thinking after watching the Red Devils stutter to 15th in the Premier League: ‘How you can sell Scott is beyond me.’

That regret will have only deepened when the 30-man Ballon d’Or shortlist was announced with McTominay’s name on it and not a single Red Devils star in sight.

It was no surprise. The Scot’s 12 goals and six assists were a record combined tally in a debut Serie A season for a midfielder this century. Three more than Kaka managed at AC Milan. He was named Serie A MVP and later voted player of the year by his fellow pros at the Gran Gala del Calcio.

McTominay became the first Scottish player to be shortlisted for the sport’s most prestigious prize since Ally McCoist in 1987, and his commendable 18th-place finish was announced while a new era was unfolding at his club.

Napoli spent big in the summer to add depth to a squad now facing the challenge of balancing a title defence with a Champions League campaign, and the blockbuster signing of Kevin De Bruyne initially created some complications.

McTominay scored the opening goal of the new season but then faced his most challenging period yet in a Napoli shirt, with Conte admitting he was ‘struggling a bit’ as his form dipped in a new 4-1-4-1 formation that accommodated De Bruyne but pushed the Scot out wide.

Fabio Capello compared the conundrum to a famous English football dilemma.

‘McTominay and De Bruyne remind me of (Steven) Gerrard and (Frank) Lampard in my England team,’ he said. ‘They were two “number ones”, and everyone envied us, but they ended up stepping on each others’ toes.’

An injury to De Bruyne allowed McTominay to reclaim his favoured central position and rediscover some of his best form, before a selection crisis forced a switch to 3-4-2-1 that saw the Scot forced to adapt once again in a deeper role.

McTominay’s bullet strike against title rivals Inter in October was named goal of the month, and Napoli remain firmly in the Scudetto mix at the time of writing despite suffering four defeats in 15 games.

However, the tail end of his incredible year will be remembered for one moment alone, and it came far from Naples on a cold November night in Glasgow.

Remarkably, it took McTominay until his 27th cap to score his first goal in a Scotland shirt, and then another 10 games to get his second.

But since the start of 2023, his 15 goal involvements (13 goals, two assists) are by far the most in the squad, ahead of John McGinn on nine (5 goals, 4 assists).

That incredible haul has provided some great moments, but none quite like what he produced in the winner-takes-all World Cup qualifying finale over Denmark.

Scotland had to win. A draw would have been enough for the Danes, but not Steve Clarke’s men. The stage was set and the pressure was on to produce a famous night at Hampden.

Almost three decades had passed since the Tartan Army had last watched their side run out at a World Cup and they had never had a better chance to end that wait.

Step up the bottle opener. Little over two minutes had passed when Ben Gannon-Doak lifted a cross high into the Glasgow sky. Suddenly, McTominay’s boot was there. Inexplicably, impossibly, there.

He seemed to hang 12 feet in the air as he soared above the Danish defence to execute an immaculate overhead kick that will be remembered as one of the most spectacular goals ever scored by a Scotland player.

Two more that could contest that category followed late on, Kieran Tierney and Kenny McLean sublimely striking to seal one of the most extraordinary wins ever witnessed at Hampden and send the Scots to their first World Cup since 1998.

‘McTominay scored the best overhead kick I’ve ever seen, and it might not have been the best goal of the night,’ Clarke said afterwards. That about summed it up.

Inevitably, McTominay’s jaw-dropping 2025 has led to some transfer speculation ahead of the January transfer window. It looks far-fetched.

The midfielder has a deal until 2028 at a club where he’s adored, fighting for titles and competing in the Champions League. There is little reason to believe he is pining for a Premier League return.

Indeed, as McTominay prepares to pen his 2026 resolutions in a couple of weeks, it’s tempting to wonder what lies ahead.

Back-to-back Scudetti? A Champions League charge? Scotland’s first World Cup knockout tie?

If 2025 has taught us anything, it’s to never put limits on what is possible for McFratm.