The Scotsman will be the key to Conte’s midfield. Physical and running: Khephren is Juventus’ extra man
When this evening, a handful of seconds after 8.45pm, the referee Federico La Penna blows the whistle for the start of Napoli-Juventus, all the off-field issues will lose their importance: the absentees, the past of the coaches, all the heated precedents between the two clubs. And there, in the heart of midfield, Scott McTominay and Khephren Thuram will face each other to the other in front of the impatient crowd of Diego Armando Maradona, with the exact same task: withstanding the impact of the opposing midfield and pushing his teammates by raising the engine revs, giving display of mettle and combativeness, making one’s physicality count. Not displayed for vanity, but put at the service of the shirt worn on the shoulders.
Scott the Survivor
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Once upon a time there were the Fab Four: and to make them play together, without sacrificing physique and talent, Conte invented the 4-1-4-1. But time has flown by, it brought with it hamstrings (De Bruyne and Anguissa) and a posterior tibialis (Lobotka) and in this Napoli-Juventus match which is never a match like the others, the soundtrack of a team that serenely tries to always stay up there, offers it Scott McTominay. The midfield is his promised land, without fences, without barriers, without fear: midfielder, as was once the custom, in front of the defense, because tonight there is nothing else to invent, after having been a midfielder, a left winger or even a right winger, a sub striker and always a goalscorer. Twelve goals (and the title of MVP) in the Scudetto season, while now – it may seem like a few but instead it is a historical “false” – which stands at two in the championship (one less than twelve months ago) he has added another three in the Champions League, which certainly have a statistical weight and more. McTominay is the survivor of a sector that disappeared in forty daysfrom De Bruyne’s injury (25 October) shooting and scoring a penalty against Inter to the freezing shower in the Italian Cup warm-up which took Lobotka away from Conte, already without Anguissa. But McTominay is the light of Napolihis source of inspiration or if anything the raft to escape despair for a moment. McTominay doesn’t know banality, he scores goals that count, that save (in Turin, a year ago), that make history (with Cagliari, in the championship on 24 May and wanting to broaden his horizons also with his Scotland): and then he makes them beautiful, sometimes with an overhead kick. The extra man, Paolo Sorrentino would say.
K factor
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In the bombastic – in intent – signing campaign of the 2024 summer transfer market of Juventus, Thuram was one of the shots paid the least by the then technical director Cristiano Giuntoli, 20 million euros. Had it not been for that surname so loved in Turin, perhaps there wouldn’t even have been much anticipation for a midfielder arriving from Ligue 1 who didn’t end up in the highlights very often, but sporadically with interesting box-to-box ball-and-chain bucking. Seventeen months later, now, Khephren is more than comfortable in the Juventus midfield and, provided that his physical condition is optimal, he fights and shines as he will need to do this evening at Maradona. In a year and a half the French international has shown his entire collection: still to be perfected, because – after all – 24 years of age leave us dreaming of a further evolution compared to current events. Thuram fights, fights, helps, incites, when he can he breaks the opposing departments by diving into spaces with the ball at his feet. If Napoli have an “adapted” midfielder, it will be up to him to dissect it and grasp any uncertainties. Behind that size there is a real player who has never limited himself to elbow grease. To beat Napoli you need much more, he and Luciano Spalletti know this.
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