Scott McTominay starts gym recovery at Napoli after heart procedure

Scott McTominay has started recovery work in the gym in Naples, Napoli said in a statement, following a procedure on his heart on September 8.

The midfielder had a minor operation in his hometown of Manchester to correct a mild, benign arrhythmia. Corriere dello Sport reports it was an ablation carried out at the Spire Manchester Hospital. He has missed Napoli's last four matches in all competitions. The club said at the time he would need about two weeks' rest.

The club scheduled the procedure for the late-September international break to limit missed games.

He was not called up by Scotland for the Nations League fixtures against Slovenia, Switzerland, North Macedonia. That leaves him free to work at Castel Volturno on a programme built around him. Corriere dello Sport calls the decision unavoidable.

Napoli are not setting a fixed date. According to the paper, he will be monitored day by day and will return to the group, and then to matches, only when his monitoring shows stable vitals and he passes fitness tests. The hope is that he will be available for the Serie A home game against Frosinone on October 10, but the paper says there is no hurry. Four days later Napoli travel to Villarreal for a Champions League fixture on October 13.

If the gym work goes to plan, Frosinone would be the first realistic date for a return. The club's stated caution suggests he could just as easily be kept back for the trip to Villarreal.