It was after Manchester United’s first game against West Ham this season that Ruben Amorim let his guard down on Kobbie Mainoo.
United drew 1-1 with the relegation-threatened Hammers at Old Trafford in December, with Mainoo left on the bench throughout – and Amorim deciding Lisandro Martinez for Luke Shaw was a better final substitution as he looked for a winner.
“You always ask me the same thing,” said United’s then manager, when questioned why he had left the 20-year-old on the bench.
“I understand what you are saying. You love Kobbie. He starts for England, but that doesn’t mean I need to put Kobbie on when I feel I shouldn’t.”
The “you love Kobbie” comment felt personal. The rationale, in Amorim’s mind, for why he was repeatedly being asked by the media why he hardly used Mainoo.
That assessment missed the point.
It was not that the media loved Mainoo. It was that they had previously seen the positive benefits he can bring to a team.
Judging by the 25,000 likes on a social media post on X during the 2-0 win over Tottenham on Saturday, observing that with each passing game Amorim’s stance on Mainoo looks ridiculous, huge numbers of fans had seen it too.
Fans also failed to understand why the academy-raised midfielder did not start a single Premier League match this season prior to Amorim’s departure.
Amorim’s initial replacement, Darren Fletcher, brought Mainoo on for the final 16 minutes of last month’s draw at Burnley, having ditched the three-man central defence to allow for an extra player in the middle of the pitch.
The midfielder started the following game against Brighton in the FA Cup and has kept his place for all four matches of Michael Carrick’s short reign.
Against Tottenham, Mainoo created Bryan Mbeumo’s opener with a deft pass to the edge of the penalty area with the inside of his right foot after dashing across the goal to meet Bruno Fernandes’ short corner.
“Yes, there’s no doubt,” said Carrick afterwards, upon being asked whether Mainoo was back to the level of his breakthrough season in 2023-24, when he scored in the FA Cup final and started for England in the Euros final defeat by Spain.
Some still do not get it.
On the face of it, seven goals and five assists in 90 first-team appearances does not look much.
But that is not the point. Mainoo has an excellent feel for the flow of games and is an all-round midfielder.
That applied to Carrick himself two decades ago. It was the reason Sir Alex Ferguson brought him north from Tottenham.
In a chat with his brother Graeme for the Football Association before he left United in 2018, Carrick himself explained the subtleties of a “great pass”.
“The execution is probably the easiest bit a lot of the time,” he said.
“It is about preparing for it, getting your body position right, understanding the context of the game, knowing the risk and reward.
“Even if it is a three-yard pass, you are giving the ball to someone for them to do something instantly. If they have to take a touch and another touch to get hold of the ball, it is not a great pass.
“You should be dictating what the next pass should be, and your own passing angle should be right.
“It is a great pass if the next part is how you see it in your head.”
Mainoo’s resurgence has created separate debates.
The first, clearly, relates to Amorim, not just on one individual player but an apparent lack of trust in United’s academy, which staff members picked up on and were furious about.
The second relates to England.
It is amazing to think six of Mainoo’s 10 senior caps came during Euro 2024. He played the first Nations League game immediately afterwards, but – after pulling out of the October squad that followed – has not featured since.
Giving himself a chance to break into Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup squad was the reason why he was so keen to join Napoli on loan before the summer transfer window closed.
Now he has five games at the most – starting with Tuesday’s return meeting at West Ham – to force his way into Tuchel’s plans for the March friendlies with Uruguay and Japan, two years after gatecrashing Gareth Southgate’s squad at just the right time.
With Elliot Anderson, Adam Wharton and Alex Scott, who are all on United’s radar as they look to reinforce their midfield in the summer, named in November’s squad, Mainoo has his work cut out.
Carrick knows the youngster has time on his side.
“We have to be careful about putting so much on his shoulders and expecting so much of him,” he said.
“He’s still learning the game. He’s had a big high, and then, obviously, didn’t play for a little bit.
“It’s easy to think he’s a lot older and more experienced than he is. He’s just got to be patient.”
