{"id":298111,"date":"2025-07-28T09:24:21","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T09:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/298111\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T09:24:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T09:24:21","slug":"kobbie-mainoo-may-have-had-another-breakthrough-at-manchester-united-after-what-he-gave-the-midfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/298111\/","title":{"rendered":"Kobbie Mainoo may have had another breakthrough at Manchester United after what he gave the midfield"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kobbie Mainoo was back at the MetLife Stadium two years on from his breakthrough performance. He may have achieved another breakthrough against West Ham.\"Samuel<\/p>\n

Samuel joined the Manchester Evening News in 2014 and is the Chief Manchester United writer. He has broken exclusives on Jose Mourinho’s appointment, the re-signing of Cristiano Ronaldo, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sacking, the club’s interest in Ralf Rangnick and Erik ten Hag, as well as numerous other transfers and team news. He has represented the MEN on the BBC, Sky News, Sky Sports News, TalkSport, Radio 5 Live, CNN and various other media outlets worldwide.
\nTo receive Samuel’s weekly newsletter for exclusive views and insight, subscribe at https:\/\/insideoldtrafford.substack.com\/about<\/p>\n

\"MainooMainoo started in New Jersey<\/p>\n

Ruben Amorim has been on Kobbie Mainoo\u2019s case to increase his \u201crhythm and pace\u201d. Mainoo was quick to intercept Alphonse Areola\u2019s pass to assist Bruno Fernandes.<\/p>\n

Fernandes<\/a> caressed the ball as nonchalantly as David Beckham to put United<\/a> 2-0 up against West Ham.<\/a> He could have purely milked the acclaim yet made a beeline for Mainoo.<\/a><\/p>\n

This was the second time Mainoo walked off the MetLife Stadium pitch to murmurs of approval. As an 18-year-old two years ago, he outshone an Arsenal midfield of Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard. Erik ten Hag did not attend a post-match press conference but paused in the mixed zone to wax lyrical about Mainoo to us journalists.<\/p>\n

It was apparent that Ten Hag was preparing Mainoo not for the first team squad but the first team. Cruelly, 80 seconds into the friendly with Real Madrid in Houston the following week, Casemiro fouled Rodrygo, who collided into Mainoo\u2019s ankle and he was sidelined for four months.<\/p>\n

Back in the United States for his second pre-season tour, Mainoo\u2019s challenge is to regain his place rather than gain it. It augurs well that Amorim not only picked him from the start against West Ham but played Mainoo in midfield, his natural habitat.<\/p>\n

Mainoo has occupied three different roles in Amorim\u2019s 3-4-2-1 system but it is in his and the team\u2019s interests that he returns to midfield. United have a surfeit of possible No.10s – Matheus Cunha, Bruno Fernandes, Bryan Mbeumo, Amad, Mason Mount, Joshua Zirkzee. They have a shortage of out-and-out central midfielders and Mainoo is one of four.<\/p>\n

\u201cI liked Kobbie Mainoo\u2019s game,\u201d Amorim enthused at the MetLife. That was unprompted. He was especially pleased with how Mainoo and the domineering Manuel Ugarte upped the intensity after the drab draw with Leeds United seven days earlier. Both started on the bench in Sweden.<\/p>\n

Amorim lamented \u201cthe lack of pace\u201d in midfield against Leeds. He picked Fernandes and Casemiro, players with a combined age of 63. That rotational team in Stockholm seemed to be solely about fitness. In New Jersey, United\u2019s starting XI could feasibly line up against Arsenal at Old Trafford on August 17.<\/p>\n

“I spoke about that against Leeds because I felt like everybody in the midfield, the pace was not there,” Amorim explained. “Today it was there. Manuel and Kobbie did that job.”<\/p>\n

“I like the mentality of us today,” Matthijs de Ligt added. “High pressing, a lot of intensity.” Mainoo and Ugarte underpinned that.<\/p>\n

\"FernandesFernandes thanks Mainoo<\/p>\n

Of the outfield players, Mainoo was maybe the least assured of keeping his place. Bryan Mbeumo could muscle his way in, though he will not play until the third tour match against Everton in Atlanta on Sunday. United only have one more friendly – at home to Fiorentina on August 9 – before Arsenal board their train to Manchester Piccadilly.<\/p>\n

2024-25 was not a season teeming with highlights for Mainoo but he excelled at Arsenal in the spirited FA Cup third round triumph. Arsenal will likely have Rice and Rodri\u2019s heir, Martin Zubimendi, to pit against United\u2019s midfield axis.<\/p>\n

Amorim leaned on Casemiro in the final months of last season, predominantly in the Europa League. Mainoo and Ugarte are better equipped to compete with Rice, Zubimendi and Fernandes\u2019 opposite number, Martin Odegaard.<\/p>\n

\"MainooMainoo was memorably impressive against Arsenal in New Jersey<\/p>\n

It has gone quiet on the new contract front for Mainoo. He last scrawled his signature on United papers in February 2023 when he was still a teenager and had made two appearances. The deal was highly incentivised but his profile has expanded vastly since, so much so that Nike made a song-and-dance about his renewal last year, arranging for Mainoo to play in a five-a-side game at Venice Beach. United have to remunerate him.<\/p>\n

As much of a wrench as it would be for members of the academy to see Alejandro Garnacho depart after five years, Garnacho hails from Madrid, not Manchester. His arrogance was so apparent in the academy that it was inevitable he would not be a one-club man and one day angle for a return to the land of his birth.<\/p>\n

It is different with Mainoo. He is a Mancunian and a boyhood United fan. The era of the one-club is in danger of ending and United is the club that has to rail against that.<\/p>\n

\"MainooMainoo is a talent to cherish<\/p>\n

It is not pure sentiment to safeguard Mainoo\u2019s future. He was integral to United\u2019s FA Youth Cup and FA Cup successes, two of their highlights this decade. His winner at Wembley is one of the great Cup final goals. Mainoo left Wembley that day looking like a schoolboy on a field trip, with his shirt tucked out and a bucket hat resting on his noggin.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t stand still. Weeks later, Mainoo transformed England\u2019s midfield in their run to the European Championship final. He would enhance most midfields.<\/p>\n

Some supporters will be nervous about Mainoo\u2019s sellable asset status. Midfield is also an area where United want to strengthen, once they have made room. Selling Mainoo is a prospect they cannot entertain and, as insignificant as pre-season matches are, Mainoo\u2019s selection against West Ham was somewhat significant.<\/p>\n

Whenever Mainoo started in the second half of last season, it was in domestic matches between European ties. Amorim is evidently willing to compromise now, bringing Mainoo back into the midfield fold, and there is not as much noise around him as there was with Scott McTominay last year. Fulham had submitted two offers for McTominay by late July 2024.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, Mainoo\u2019s sudden prominence made United receptive to selling McTominay. The plans changed when Rodrygo ploughed into Mainoo\u2019s ankle. Hopefully, he avoids such misfortune in Chicago.<\/p>\n

Then he can continue to perfect his rhythm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kobbie Mainoo was back at the MetLife Stadium two years on from his breakthrough performance. He may have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,12243,2465,423,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-298111","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-kobbie-mainoo","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-manchester-united-fc","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114930140176266177","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298111","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=298111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}