Scott McTominay Out After Heart Surgery for Napoli's Champions League Opener
Scott McTominay has undergone minor heart surgery, ruling him out of Napoli’s Champions League opener against Arsenal at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
The Scotland international, who has already started two Serie A games this season, had the procedure on Monday, September 7, in England to correct what Napoli described as “a mild benign arrhythmia” – an irregular heartbeat the club stressed was non-serious. The timing leaves him with no chance of featuring when last season’s beaten finalists Arsenal arrive in Naples to launch this year’s campaign.
Napoli had already prepared the ground. Last week, the club announced that McTominay would undergo the operation and indicated he would only be available again after the upcoming international break. On Instagram, the midfielder tried to calm any nerves, telling supporters: “I won’t take long.”
He struck the same note of reassurance at an awards ceremony in Italy, saying: “I’m fine, the procedure was something I’d planned to do with the club for quite a while.”
Inside the club, the outlook is clear and precise. Sporting director Giovanni Manna told DAZN that McTominay faces around four weeks out while he waits for medication to do its job.
“It will take 28 days for (McTominay to return to) sporting fitness because he will take anticoagulant drugs,” Manna said. “For two weeks, the player will rest and then resume competitive activity without contact.”
Anticoagulants – blood thinners – are used to prevent clots, and their presence in the body means any contact sport carries extra risk. Hence the strict schedule: rest, then non-contact work, then a full return.
The consequences stretch beyond club football. That four-week window means McTominay is set to miss Scotland’s entire Nations League programme in the upcoming international break. Scotland face Switzerland and North Macedonia before a double-header against Slovenia, all likely without one of their key midfielders.
The Scottish national team quickly sent their support once Napoli confirmed the surgery plans, posting: “Wishing you all the best in your recovery, Scott. Hope to see you back in a Scotland shirt soon.”
For Arsenal, McTominay’s absence removes one powerful, box-to-box presence from Napoli’s midfield. It does not remove the threat. The Italians are expected to lean on a formidable engine room built around fit-again pair Kevin De Bruyne and Billy Gilmour, a combination that will test whether last season’s finalists have truly hardened from their heartbreak.
