Man Utd player created insulting nickname for Scott McTominay before his move to Napoli

Napoli midfielder Scott McTominay was given an insulting nickname by a teammate during his time at Manchester United.

McTominay, 28, spent over two decades at Man United before leaving for Serie A outfit Napoli in the summer of 2024.

Since his transfer, he has captured the imagination of the Gli Azzurri faithful with seven goals and four assists in 31 games for Antonio Conte’s title-chasing side.

And despite arguably not being the most glamorous footballer, he played key roles under several managers including Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Michael Carrick, Ralf Rangnick and Erik ten Hag during his time at United.

His hard-working playing style even earned him a nickname during his time at the club. As reported by the Manchester Evening News, the Scotland international was dubbed ‘teacher’s pet’ by a teammate.

While, Mourinho, 62, even referred to the 28-year-old as “my boy” when speaking on Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel.

"When I go club to club, I find my boys and they are always going to be my boys,” said Mourinho.

Even legendary former United boss Sir Alex Ferguson praised McTominay when speaking back in 2021.

Scott McTominay is enjoying life at Napoli (Credit:Getty)

“Scott McTominay is now emerging as one of Man United's big players,” Ferguson said.

“When you watch Man United pick their team for a big game, McTominay's name is in it. He's a good character, a great trainer. I know a little bit about the boy and I think that's the background

“I signed him when he was seven or eight years of age and he was actually a centre-forward as a kid.

“He's just sprouted, a little bit like Darren Fletcher – Darren had a few little annoying injuries as he was growing and needed some rest periods and things like that.

“McTominay is of a similar type to Darren – long, lanky, good winner of the ball and a good turn of pace going forward, a great attitude to the game. All these attitudes that Darren Fletcher had, he's got them.

“Even if you go back to my time with Darren, I very seldom left him out of big games, particularly against Arsenal. He was fantastic against Arsenal and [Patrick] Vieira and I had no problems.

“McTominay is going forward on those guidelines that Darren pursued for a long time at United. It's really rewarding for me to see a Scot coming through.”