Just when you thought they were running out of superlatives to illustrate Scott McTominay’s impact at Napoli, the bar has literally been raised to the heavens.
Speaking this week about the Scot’s importance to the club, Diego Armando Maradona junior opined that he was now Jesus in the city where his late father is God.
Steven Naismith prefers to evaluate the 29-year-old’s value to the national team in more earthly terms.
‘For me, when he comes into the squad, he’s a beast of an athlete,’ said the first-team coach.
‘He’s big, he’s strong, he’s powerful. Even the pace he passes the ball at, you think, “He’s got some real strength here”.
‘And then, he just grows and grows. He’s played centre half, he’s played centre mid, he’s played as a forward. That tells you his knowledge and understanding of the game is top.
Scott McTominay picks up another man of the match award for his club Napoli
‘But the biggest compliment I can pay him is that he has turned himself into the most professional athlete he can be. Everything else is secondary to him performing and being in peak condition.
‘Undoubtedly, when he has been at Man United, he will have fed off the best to see what it is that you need to do.
‘He was at a club that when they weren’t at their best, he got the brunt of it at times.
‘Then he was brave enough to move to another country and become a star, and that is what he is. The mural (near Hampden) tells you everything.’
With all due respect to the leadership group in Steve Clarke’s squad, McTominay is the star of the show.
Part of the Napoli side which won just the second scudetto since the Maradona era last year and voted the best player in Italy, he’s towering presence even among established international footballers.
‘He’s confident,’ added Naismith. ‘The biggest thing I can say is that in the last camp, you’d wake up in the morning, go to breakfast and he was sitting with Andy (Robertson) John McGinn, Grant Hanley, John Souttar and Kenny McLean.
‘And then at lunch he’d be sitting with Lennon Miller, Josh Doig and Andy Irving. That’s him.
‘I actually said to him that you don’t realise the power you are having when you are sitting for 10 minutes or 15 minutes talking to a young player who is hanging onto your every word.
‘Just understand the power of that because it is amazing. But he doesn’t care.’
A decade ago, as Scotland tried and failed to reopen the door to tournaments, Gordon Strachan famously claimed we were lacking a Gareth Bale.
It required no explanation. The national team had some extremely fine players, but none capable of taking it over the threshold. Mercifully, given the company McTominay keeps, times have changed.
‘We have a few now in their own way,’ Naismith said. ‘We have Andy Robertson, the captain, who has won the Champions League, who has won the Premier League.
‘We have John McGinn, how he is – we see it on social media, he is really demanding, really professional. A brilliant leader. He is the captain of Villa, who are performing as well as ever.
‘They are leaders. Everyone trusts what they say. And they follow their lead. It is brilliant.’
Mainstays of a golden generation who’ve qualified for three major tournaments, they are also accustomed to the highest of standards.
This necessitated a painstaking effort on Naismith’s part after the draw for the World Cup was made.
In the search of the right training camp and hotels, he criss-crossed the USA, leaving no stone unturned.
If Scotland don’t do themselves justice this summer, it won’t be for the lack of preparation.
‘We have got a hard challenge because we have got players at the elite level,’ he explained.
‘We are not a massive country, so we need to maximise every area we can.
‘That’s from the quality of the hotel, the quality of the training facility, the distance we’re travelling, the humidity, when are they going to see their families?
McTominay scores with a dramatic overhead kick to help Scotland on their way to the World Cup
‘All of these different aspects, you’re trying to work out what is the best, because the country is massive.’
We now know the side will train in Florida before setting up camp in Charlotte with a friendly against Venezuela in New Jersey in between awaiting confirmation.
The incentive for the 26 players who’ve gathered for the friendly matches with Japan and Ivory Coast across the next week could hardly be greater. Make a good impression over the two games and a ticket to game’s greatest show may be yours.
While Naismith feels that maxim applies to the new faces like Findlay Curtis as much as more familiar names, he warns that making the final cut for the USA is a huge task.
‘The pathway for a young player in a new environment is survive, go unnoticed,’ he explained.
‘The easiest thing to do is go in and be weak and that is highlighted. If you can come in and survive in training and the training session flows perfectly, then you have done your job.
‘When you are comfortable at that point you go, “Right, I want to make an impression” and you start being the difference in a possession drill.
‘Then you start doing it in games. That is the process. Some do it quicker, some not so quick. Some unfortunately are not at the level.
‘Every fan of every team knows players they feel should be in the Scotland squad. It is a bigger jump than folk expect.’
