McTominay has spoken openly about mentality, the refusal to quit, and why he believes every player in the Scotland squad carries that same unbreakable quality within them.
“Not willing to stop when it gets tough, it’s one of the most important things in football,” the Napoli midfielder told BBC Sport, drawing inspiration from NBA legend Michael Jordan.
McTominay referenced Jordan’s famous philosophy about always performing for those who might be watching for the very first time, regardless of the occasion or circumstance.
“So if you’re not giving your absolute best a young fan could be walking away going ‘he wasn’t that great’,” McTominay explained, applying the principle to his own approach on the pitch.
Now a senior figure in Steve Clarke’s squad, McTominay has taken teenagers Tyler Fletcher and Findlay Curtis under his wing, acting as both mentor and demanding taskmaster during training sessions.
“I’m demanding and quite hard on some of them,” he said, adding that the right way to conduct yourself away from football is arguably more important than what happens on the pitch.
He recalled receiving similarly unsparing advice from senior professionals during his own development, describing behind-closed-doors messages that were brutally direct and uncompromising.
“And the things that get said are ruthless – sink or swim,” he said, reflecting on the environment that ultimately shaped him into the player he has become.
McTominay joined the Manchester United academy at just five years old, leaving his Lancaster home early to enter a residency programme that presented significant emotional challenges for a boy flying under the radar.
He was far from a childhood prodigy, standing just 5ft 6in at 16, described as a “silky number 10”, and starting only two of 22 matches in his debut under-21 season.
A remarkable growth spurt took him to 6ft 4in, and his confidence grew in equal measure, eventually leading to a confrontation during a training session with senior players Michael Carrick and Ashley Young.
Jose Mourinho phoned him directly after the incident, delivering a dressing-down that left McTominay fearing his United career was finished before it had properly started.
“He dressed me down. It was like ‘who do you think you are, you’ve done nothing’. I thought it was over [at United] before it started, how forceful he was,” McTominay recalled.
Instead, Mourinho became one of his fiercest champions, handing him his senior debut in May 2017 and declaring “this kid has everything I want” to those around the club.
The following season, Mourinho created a new end-of-campaign award specifically for McTominay, naming him manager’s player of the season after his transition from academy to Premier League.
McTominay’s Scotland debut came in March 2018 against Costa Rica, and Steven Naismith, now Clarke’s assistant, remembered a young man who initially “kept himself to himself” within the international setup.
Successive United managers Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick continued to praise him, with Solskjaer calling him a “physical monster” and Rangnick identifying him as a future captain of the club.
Despite reported interest from West Ham, Newcastle, Fulham and Bayern Munich, McTominay stayed at Old Trafford through turbulent times, famously scoring twice in added time to beat Brentford in October 2023.
“Never give up, man. You never give up. No matter the situation you never give up, never throw the towel in,” he said after that match, in words that seemed to define his entire career to that point.
He eventually left for Napoli, and former manager Mourinho was among those stunned by United’s decision, later calling McTominay “one of the best midfielders in Europe” and crediting himself for believing in him from the age of 18.
Napoli brought a Serie A title in 2024-25, worldwide recognition, a giant mural near Hampden, and even an appearance on a bank note celebrating his overhead kick against Denmark that helped send Scotland to the World Cup.
Naismith summed up McTominay’s transformation most vividly, comparing his dominance on the pitch to the power-up mushroom in Super Mario, before praising his effortless ability to connect with every person in the Scotland squad.
“And see his passing – it’s as if you’re in a computer game. It’s like in Super Mario where you get a mushroom and you’re bigger, if that makes sense. He’s just more powerful than everybody else,” Naismith said.
“He’s a social butterfly and it’s all pure happiness for him,” Naismith added, completing a picture of a player who has grown from a quiet outsider into the unquestioned heartbeat of his national team.
