{"id":132871,"date":"2025-05-26T09:18:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T09:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/132871\/"},"modified":"2025-05-26T09:18:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T09:18:13","slug":"how-alejandro-garnacho-and-kobbie-mainoo-have-fallen-from-the-jewels-in-the-man-united-crown-to-outcasts-under-ruben-amorim-chris-wheeler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/132871\/","title":{"rendered":"How Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo have fallen from the jewels in the Man United crown to outcasts under Ruben Amorim – CHRIS WHEELER"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alejandro Garnacho<\/a> wandered onto the pitch almost unnoticed just in time to hear head coach Ruben Amorim<\/a> give a speech in the centre-circle apologising for a \u2018disaster season\u2019.<\/p>\n

Among the Manchester United<\/a> players gathered there after a 2-0 win over Aston Villa<\/a> on Sunday, Kobbie Mainoo<\/a> stood with his teammates waiting for a lap of appreciation at the end of the club\u2019s worst-ever Premier League campaign.<\/p>\n

It seemed a world away from the same day last year, May 25, 2024, when United beat Manchester City<\/a> in the FA Cup final. The win that saved Erik ten Hag<\/a>\u2019s job and felt monumental enough to launch an exciting new era with youth at the heart of it.<\/p>\n

Mainoo posing in his beanie hat in the Wembley sunshine. Garnacho with an Argentina flag wrapped around his middle, arms folded for the cameras, all attitude. Rasmus Hojlund<\/a> and Amad Diallo<\/a> beside them, lapping up the adulation.<\/p>\n

Later that evening, the images of Hojlund leading the celebrations at United\u2019s hotel in Mayfair, never without a bottle in his hand. Garnacho larking around with influencer IShowSpeed, still wearing his match jersey.<\/p>\n

The Argentina winger scored the opening goal that day and had a hand in the second for Mainoo, providing the perfect ending to a breakthrough season in which they posed for an iconic image, perching on the advertising boards with Hojlund at Old Trafford during a win over West Ham<\/a> in February 2024.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A year ago Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho shone as Man United won the FA Cup<\/p>\n

\"But <\/p>\n

But the status of both stars has waned this season and at least one may depart this summer<\/p>\n

\"Garnacho <\/p>\n

Garnacho is likely to leave amid his turbulent and combustible relationship with Ruben Amorim<\/p>\n

Academy products are adored by fans of every team, but particularly so at United where youth has played such an intrinsic part in the club\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

So it felt especially sad to see the contrast on Sunday following a difficult season for both these young players.<\/p>\n

Garnacho has been told that he can leave this summer in the wake of comments made by him and his brother Roberto following the Europa League final defeat to Tottenham in Bilbao last week.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old couldn\u2019t hide his frustration at being kept on the bench for more than 70 minutes when he spoke to South American media afterwards. His brother accused Amorim of throwing Garnacho \u2018under the bus\u2019.<\/p>\n

The United boss was reluctant to discuss the subject on Sunday, but did not deny that Garnacho has played his last game for the club. \u2018He is a Manchester United player,\u2019 said Amorim. \u2018He was not in the squad today but he’s a normal player in our club. I have no news on that today. I don’t know what is going to happen in the future.\u2019<\/p>\n

Mainoo, also 20, only got off the bench in the 90th minute in Bilbao. He was introduced at half-time against Villa and had a hand in Diallo\u2019s opening goal, but he looks lost in Amorim\u2019s 3-4-3 system, suiting neither a deep midfield position or one of the No.10 roles which he had on Sunday.<\/p>\n

As talks continue to drag over a new contract, the dilemma of how he can play regularly under Amorim and maintain an England place is a major factor.<\/p>\n

When Mail Sport revealed in January that both Garnacho and Mainoo could be sold<\/a> to help fund the rebuild under Amorim, it caused outrage among fans.<\/p>\n

\"Garnacho <\/p>\n

Garnacho and brother Roberto hit out at Amorim after the Europa League final last week<\/p>\n

\"Mainoo <\/p>\n

Mainoo looks lost in United’s system and it is a far cry from the joys of Wembley 12 months ago\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"An <\/p>\n

An iconic photo of the pair and Hojlund last year gave hope of a new exciting era at United<\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

As academy players, selling them would generate 100 per cent profit under financial fair play rules \u2013 and not a small profit either considering that United value Garnacho and Mainoo between \u00a360-70million and they are among the club\u2019s lower earners due to their ages and contract situations.<\/p>\n

It seems a perverse situation given how hard football has tried to encourage clubs to nurture homegrown talent, but it\u2019s the same reason that United were so ready to cash in and sell Scott McTominay to Napoli last summer. McTominay\u2019s role in helping the Italian club win the Serie A title should serve as a warning to letting go of top young talent.<\/p>\n

Still, trading Garnacho and Mainoo would feel like selling the family silver. It\u2019s not as though United are awash with exciting players at the moment. Chelsea have an interest in both and Napoli had an offer for Garnacho rejected by United in January. They may well try again now and news of Amorim\u2019s decision to show him the door has done nothing to protect his market value.<\/p>\n

It has always felt as if only one of the two would go this summer, and Garnacho has been favourite for some time given his uneasy relationship with Amorim. It appears as though fans could stomach that more easily than selling Mainoo, the Stockport-born local hero.<\/p>\n

Of the other two, Diallo has become an untouchable under Amorim and popped up with United\u2019s first goal against Villa on Sunday. Hojlund, meanwhile, continues to struggle and he will either leave this summer or lose his status as United\u2019s main striker.<\/p>\n

Ten Hag lost his job before the end of October as it quickly became clear that the magic of Wembley had well and truly worn off. Now, 12 months on, the sight of Garnacho and Mainoo so far from centre stage is incredibly sad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alejandro Garnacho wandered onto the pitch almost unnoticed just in time to hear head coach Ruben Amorim give…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[1682,92,94,12243,98,101,10384,99,93,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-132871","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-alejandro-garnacho","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-kobbie-mainoo","12":"tag-manchester-united","13":"tag-premier-league","14":"tag-rasmus-hojlund","15":"tag-ruben-amorim","16":"tag-sport","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114573391047808189","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}