Brighton suffers a severe injury setback, forcing Napoli to abort Scott McTominay plan.
Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay is one of a number of Premier League players that have been pursued by new Napoli manager Antonio Conte this summer.
Napoli's hopes of pairing Scott McTominay with Scotland teammate Billy Gilmour have been dashed, with Matt O'Riley's injury keeping Gilmour at Brighton.
McTominay will travel to Italy for a medical before committing to a permanent move from Manchester United to Napoli. His arrival will be part of a big summer overhaul under new manager Antonio Conte, who has already confirmed the arrivals of David Neres and Alessandro Buongiorno.
Conte was also interested in Gilmour, with the Italian hoping to sign the former Chelsea youth player on a permanent basis. He has previously played with McTominay at the international level, but will not be doing so in Serie A.
That's because O'Riley, a summer acquisition from Celtic, was hurt during his Brighton debut. With the Danish international having surgery, Gilmour's skills are likely to be needed sooner than expected.
O'Riley made his Carabao Cup second-round debut against Crawley Town just one day after signing for the club for £25 million. However, a strong tackle from Crawley's Jay Williams caused him to leave the game after only 10 minutes.
"It's a bad injury," Seagulls manager Fabian Hurzeler told reporters following the setback. "He needs surgery on his ankle." I can't say how long he'll be gone."
According to The Express, Brighton have broken off talks with Napoli over Gilmour. The 23-year-old, who arrived from Chelsea in 2022, came on as a substitute in Everton's opening day success and started last weekend's win over Manchester United.
Despite the early setback, Brighton defeated Crawley 4-0 thanks to goals from Simon Adingra, Jeremy Sarmiento, Adam Webster, and Mark O'Mahony. Hurzeler did, however, express his feelings about Williams' tackle on O'Riley after the game.
"I think after this foul [on Matt], it was like the players believed they could tackle like they want because he didn't get a yellow card for this foul," the German soccer star stated. "For me, this was a clear red card. You cannot tackle like way, in my opinion.
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