At a glance, things appear to be ticking along nicely for the record six-strong Scottish contingent in Serie A.

Lennon Miller is gaining attention after finding the net during his first full Udinese match in the Coppa Italia. Meanwhile, Che Adams from Torino made his first seasonal score against Lazio last Saturday.

Josh Doig has been a consistent starter for Sassuolo following their promotion, Bologna’s captain Lewis Ferguson is once again seeing regular play, and Billy Gilmour has celebrated his debut goal for Napoli.

Last season’s Serie A MVP was a key player in securing Napoli’s impressive Scudetto win, but this season is proving challenging due to the addition of the talented Kevin De Bruyne in the midfield.

McTominay’s decline in performance is becoming a hot topic in Italy. Eight matches into the season, his goal in the opener against Sassuolo stands as his sole score, and his positional adjustment for the Belgian’s insertion has sparked debate about their compatibility.

De Bruyne and McTominay have yet to gel effectively in this season’s Napoli first team

Many observers say the Belgian’s arrival in Naples has cramped the style of the Scot

McTominay celebrates a De Bruyne goal against AC Milan but he has started the season slowly

‘De Bruyne is encroaching on McTominay’s space,’ observed veteran Italian coach Pasquale Marino. ‘It’s clear he isn’t delivering goals or finishes like last season. This is a significant issue.’

Conte openly acknowledged over the weekend that ‘Scott is facing difficulties this year,’ contrasting with last season when he netted 12 goals, including an unforgettable last-day bicycle kick etched into Napoli’s history.

The coach earned praise for succeeding where his Manchester United counterparts had failed in recognising where McTominay’s strengths lie and playing him in a role that made the most of them — on the left of a midfield three in a 4-3-3 with the licence to get forward and support striker Romelu Lukaku.

The results were spectacular, and the Scotland international looked to have picked up where he left off when he scored the opening goal of the new season against Sassuolo in a man-of-the-match performance.

However, since then he’s added just one assist as he attempts to adapt to a new role on the left wing of a 4-1-4-1 formation designed to accommodate the title-winning midfield trio and De Bruyne.

After being pushed wide, Fabio Capello said McTominay is ‘being usurped by De Bruyne in his position’ in the left-central role.

AC Milan legend Zvonimir Boban put it down to teething problems with Conte’s new system.

‘If there isn’t tactical clarity, the team pays,’ said the Croatian. ‘They will find it soon, a way of allowing both to show their quality.’

Conte himself is evidently still getting to grips with his ideas. Napoli have hardly been sluggish; they sit top of the table and bounced back from an opening Champions League defeat to Manchester City by beating Sporting Lisbon last week.

But their performances haven’t always convinced, with a nervy 3-2 win over Pisa and 2-1 defeat away to AC Milan in Serie A before a comeback was required to beat winless Genoa at home on Sunday.

‘We have two options; playing with four midfielders — and we must continue down this road because we have a lot of room for improvement — and changing to a 4-3-3 that can be more technical but should always give us great balance,’ Conte said.

McTominay’s scissor-kick goal against Cagliari last season paved the way to the Serie A title

De Bruyne and McTominay look a picture of happiness as they hail a victory over Sassuolo

McTominay has undoubtedly found life harder with option one. Gazzetta dello Sport ran the headline ‘We need McGoal’ last week as they analysed his dip in form and showed through heat maps that the Scot and De Bruyne have been occupying almost identical areas of the pitch.

The substitutions have been telling, too. McTominay was replaced just four times last season but has already been taken off three times in 2025/26, including in back-to-back games against Milan and Sporting.

A recent analysis of his statistics in the opening five games showed that McTominay has taken more shots, made more passes and had more touches in the opposition box, despite struggling to convert.

‘He just needs patience,’ Napoli director Gabriele Oriali said before the Genoa game.

‘He doesn’t need to think about winning games on his own but just playing like he always has. It’s only a matter of time before we rediscover the real McTominay.’

Conte attempted to do that against Genoa by dropping De Bruyne, reinstating the 4-3-3 and putting McTominay back in his familiar role from last season.

The Scot was a constant, menacing presence in the box and appeared more comfortable, begging the question of where Napoli go from here with their midfield conundrum.

Not everyone is convinced that working out how to balance two of the league’s most talented midfielders is a problem at all, though.

‘(McTominay) can’t score a goal or an overhead kick in every game,’ said ex-Napoli striker Roberto Sosa.

Antonio Conte is determined to stick with his new-look 4-1-4-1 rather than revert to a 4-3-3

‘This discussion was created to criticise De Bruyne, and they have thrown everyone else in the mix too. A lot of them are just searching for “likes”.’

De Bruyne has had an eventful start to life in Naples himself, creating a flash-in-the-pan controversy by being unhappy with Conte (‘there was never a problem,’ he later insisted) when being replaced in the Milan defeat before providing two gorgeous assists for Rasmus Hojlund in the Champions League three days later.

The Manchester City great is convinced that he can make it work with his former rival.

‘I’m playing in a way that is a bit different to when I was at City, but I think we can alternate positions,’ De Bruyne said.

‘Sometimes it’s a little difficult because we’re not playing with a natural left winger, so it’s not easy to find the depth, but we’re improving, and everyone will find their position.’

In Naples and in Scotland, they will hope he’s right.