Scott McTominay and Rasmus Hojlund Face Uncertainty at Napoli with Allegri Appointment
Scott McTominay and Rasmus Hojlund face fresh uncertainty at Napoli as the club prepares to move on from Antonio Conte and hand the reins to Massimiliano Allegri.
Conte’s abrupt exit from the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona has already jolted a dressing room built in his image. Now comes another jolt. Allegri, the former Juventus and AC Milan coach, has reportedly agreed a two-year deal to take over, according to Sky Sports.
The reaction in Naples has been fierce. Not in celebration.
Sections of the Napoli support have launched an online campaign against the appointment, arguing that Allegri’s profile jars with the club’s current vision. They see a coach associated with a more conservative, pragmatic brand of football, whose last Serie A title came in 2018 with Juventus and whose most recent stint at Milan ended with failure to reach the Champions League and a swift dismissal.
For McTominay and Hojlund, it represents a major change in the project they signed up for.
McTominay, who arrived from Manchester United in 2024, has been one of Serie A’s standout performers since touching down in southern Italy. Powerful, direct and relentless without the ball, he helped drive Napoli to the Scudetto in his first season at the club. That impact has not gone unnoticed. Premier League clubs have been circling, and Conte’s departure only sharpens the sense that a door back to England could soon swing open.
The Scottish international has become a symbol of Napoli’s recent recruitment – hungry, high-energy, and willing to shoulder responsibility in big moments. A change of manager to a figure as demanding and tactically rigid as Allegri will test how central he remains to the project, and whether the new coach views him as a cornerstone or a saleable asset.
Hojlund’s situation is different but no less significant.
The Danish striker joined McTominay in Naples last season on loan from United. Together, they were tasked with helping Napoli defend their title. They couldn’t. Inter Milan pulled away, finishing 11 points clear as champions, with Napoli settling for second place and a sense of missed opportunity.
Even so, Hojlund’s time in Italy is set to continue. United agreed an obligation-to-buy clause that kicks in if Napoli qualified for the Champions League. They did, and that triggers a permanent transfer worth around £38 million. The formal announcement has not yet landed, but all indications are that Hojlund will complete his move in the coming weeks.
Conte’s exit is not expected to derail that deal. Napoli still want him, and the structure is already in place.
What changes is the environment he walks into. Instead of Conte’s intense, front-foot football, Hojlund is likely to find himself working under a coach renowned for organisation, control and game management. Allegri has long favoured tactical discipline over chaos, structure over spectacle. For a young, mobile centre-forward, that can either provide clarity or feel like a straitjacket.
Napoli themselves are in a delicate phase. A title win with McTominay at the heart of it, a second-place finish that exposed flaws, a fanbase that has tasted glory and now fears a slide back into caution and compromise. Allegri arrives with a cabinet full of Italian trophies but a recent track record that divides opinion, and a set of supporters already questioning whether he fits the club they want to be.
For two former Manchester United players who crossed the Channel to relaunch their careers in a vibrant, attacking side, the landscape is shifting fast. McTominay has already proved he can dominate in Serie A. Hojlund is on the brink of committing his future to Naples.
Now they must do it under a coach the city never asked for.
