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Scotland midfielder Scott McTominay says playing in Serie A for Napoli has "opened his eyes" and helped him thrive at international level.
McTominay, 28, made the move to Italy last summer after Manchester United sold him for a fee of £25.7m.
Since making the move McTominay has become a regular in the Napoli team and has scored seven times for the Italian giants, who are three points behind league-leaders Inter Milan.
He has also been in prolific form for his country recently as well, scoring 11 goals in his past 22 Scotland outings.
"I would say potentially it has done," McTominay said when asked if the move has made him a better player for Scotland.
"It's opened my eyes to a different style of football. It's opened my eyes to a lot of different things off the pitch as well, which I'm very grateful for.
"Whatever club you play at or if you get a transfer or something like that, you need to have open arms and look to improve."
His magnificent performances for Scotland have also seen him voted as the Scottish Football Writers' international player of the year for the second successive year.
"Very proud," he said of the award. "I'm so grateful to everyone who's helped me in this journey, especially Steve Clarke, because he's the reason why I've been performing so well and the reason why I love coming to the camp, because he makes it such an amazing atmosphere.
"And for me, I just want to do as much as I can for him and keep thriving as much as possible."
McTominay will earn his 60th Scotland cap if he plays against Greece on Sunday and says he never thought he would reach that landmark.
Scotland are 1-0 ahead on aggregate thanks to McTominay's penalty in the first leg as they try to maintain their Nations League A status.
"So I'm very, very pleased and honoured to play 60 games," he said. "I would have never thought that as a young boy.
"For me, it's just important to make sure that I'm always available, both for club and country.
"Availability is so important to me, looking after myself to have as long a career as I possibly can. I want to go really far into my 30s if it's possible. For me, that's something that I've always had a goal of doing.
"So no matter what happens, I just want to make sure that I'm playing well and prepared to give my all for both club and country."
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McTominay, 28, made the move to Italy last summer after Manchester United sold him for a fee of £25.7m.
Since making the move McTominay has become a regular in the Napoli team and has scored seven times for the Italian giants, who are three points behind league-leaders Inter Milan.
He has also been in prolific form for his country recently as well, scoring 11 goals in his past 22 Scotland outings.
"I would say potentially it has done," McTominay said when asked if the move has made him a better player for Scotland.
"It's opened my eyes to a different style of football. It's opened my eyes to a lot of different things off the pitch as well, which I'm very grateful for.
"Whatever club you play at or if you get a transfer or something like that, you need to have open arms and look to improve."
His magnificent performances for Scotland have also seen him voted as the Scottish Football Writers' international player of the year for the second successive year.
"Very proud," he said of the award. "I'm so grateful to everyone who's helped me in this journey, especially Steve Clarke, because he's the reason why I've been performing so well and the reason why I love coming to the camp, because he makes it such an amazing atmosphere.
"And for me, I just want to do as much as I can for him and keep thriving as much as possible."
McTominay will earn his 60th Scotland cap if he plays against Greece on Sunday and says he never thought he would reach that landmark.
Scotland are 1-0 ahead on aggregate thanks to McTominay's penalty in the first leg as they try to maintain their Nations League A status.
"So I'm very, very pleased and honoured to play 60 games," he said. "I would have never thought that as a young boy.
"For me, it's just important to make sure that I'm always available, both for club and country.
"Availability is so important to me, looking after myself to have as long a career as I possibly can. I want to go really far into my 30s if it's possible. For me, that's something that I've always had a goal of doing.
"So no matter what happens, I just want to make sure that I'm playing well and prepared to give my all for both club and country."
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