Scott McTominay Undergoes Minor Heart Surgery, Out for Napoli vs Arsenal

Scott McTominay has undergone minor heart surgery and will miss 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 a procedure on Monday, September 7 in England to correct what Napoli described as “a mild benign arrhythmia” – an irregular heartbeat the club stressed is non-serious. The timing leaves no chance of him featuring when last season’s beaten finalists Arsenal arrive in Naples.

Napoli had already signposted his absence. The club’s initial statement, released when the issue was first made public, confirmed McTominay would only be available again after the upcoming international break. Sporting director Giovanni Manna then put a clearer timeline on it, explaining to DAZN that the midfielder faces around four weeks out as he starts a course of anticoagulant medication.

“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.”

The plan is simple: rest, then a careful reintroduction. Anticoagulants – blood thinners – reduce the risk of clots, but they also demand caution in a contact sport. So Napoli will wait.

McTominay himself has tried to calm any anxiety. Writing on Instagram last week, he reassured supporters: “I won’t take long.” At an awards ceremony in Italy he struck the same note, saying: “I’m fine, the procedure was something I’d planned to do with the club for quite a while.”

His enforced lay-off stretches beyond club duty. The four-week recovery window means he is expected to sit out Scotland’s entire upcoming Nations League programme. Steve Clarke’s side face Switzerland and North Macedonia before a double-header against Slovenia during the international break, all likely without one of their key midfield figures.

The Scottish national team quickly rallied around him once his surgery was confirmed, issuing a message of support: “Wishing you all the best in your recovery, Scott. Hope to see you back in a Scotland shirt soon.”

For Arsenal, the news removes one powerful, box-to-box presence from Napoli’s midfield. The challenge hardly disappears, though. The Italian champions can still call on a formidable engine room built around fit-again pair Kevin De Bruyne and Billy Gilmour, a combination that will test Arsenal’s resolve from the first whistle.

McTominay watches this one from afar, his short-term future mapped out in medical schedules and recovery plans. The real question now is how sharply he can return once those 28 days are up – and what shape Napoli and Scotland will be in when he does.