Gilmour and McTominay have taken their moves in their stride. The team has made a great start to the season, and both are content they have made the right choice.
“You want to push yourself, you want to see how far you can go,” says Gilmour.
The move represents another major career step for the 23-year-old. After leaving Rangers for Chelsea as a youngster, and winning a Champions League medal, there followed a loan move to Norwich City which was far from plain-sailing.
Better times followed at Brighton before the switch to Serie A.
“Brighton were been great with me when I was there kind of rebuilding myself,” he adds. “I got my confidence back. When I was leaving, it’s never easy. But you know you’re doing the right thing, you have to look after yourself in football.”
For his part, McTominay admits it was difficult to leave United but says he had to “look out for number one”.
“It was a big decision, but in some ways it was quite straightforward,” he said. “I saw the passionate fans, I saw the coach, I saw the players and I saw an opportunity.
“It didn’t take me long to make the decision because I knew that was what I wanted and I’ll never have any regrets in my life. I didn’t look back.
“I love this place. I love the fans, I love my team-mates. It has been a pleasure to be with Billy every day rather than just seeing him at Scotland and we have helped each other a lot.”
A big 2025 looms for both Gilmour and McTominay. Full of promise, full of hope, full of work. Eat, sleep, train, repeat. The hard miles in the search for glory continue under the ever-watchful gaze of Mr Conte.