Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has been questioned about Kobbie Mainoo's lack of game time in the Premier League so far this season.
The England international only played 45 minutes of football across the first three matches, and was an unused substitute in the first two games, playing the second half against Burnley.
Mainoo Amorim quotes
Amorim has explained, in the quotes above, that the central midfielder is competing with the captain, Bruno Fernandes, for a starting berth in the team, which seems like a bit of a waste of talent when you consider that he is one of the most valuable players in the squad.
Where Mainoo ranks among Man Utd's most valuable players
Mainoo is currently valued at £43m by Transfermarkt, having come through the academy system at Carrington, but finds himself out of the picture at Old Trafford, when it comes to making the starting line-up.
kobbie-mainoo-united
It feels like a waste to have such a valuable and promising young talent rotting away on the bench, particularly when the system - a 3-4-2-1 formation - keeping him out of the side has yielded eight wins in 30 Premier League games under Amorim.
|Most valuable Manchester United players|
|Player|Market value|
|---|
|Benjamin Sesko|£60m|
|Matheus Cunha|£52m|
|Bryan Mbeumo|£48m|
|Leny Yoro|£48m|
|Kobbie Mainoo|£43m|
|Bruno Fernandes|£43m|
|Amad Diallo|£39m|
|Manuel Ugarte|£39m|
|Lisandro Martinez|£35m|
|Matthijs de Ligt|£33m|
|Valuations via Transfermarkt|
As you can see in the table above, only four other players in the squad are more valuable than Mainoo. Three of them, Yoro, Mbeumo, and Cunha, are locked in starters, and Sesko may be a starter once he is up to speed.
Mainoo
Whilst it is a shame that the England international cannot get into the starting XI at the moment, United also had a nightmare with another academy graduate midfielder who is now valued as much as Mainoo, Scott McTominay.
Man Utd's Scott McTominay howler
The Scotland international came through the youth ranks at Carrington, just like Mainoo, and racked up 29 goals in 255 matches for the first-team in all competitions, per Transfermarkt.
He had shown some very promising signs throughout his time in the senior side. Gary Neville claimed that he "turned into Paul Scholes and Roy Keane" after scoring twice in a Premier League game against Leeds, for example.
Scott-McTominay-Napoli
Last summer, however, Erik ten Hag decided to part ways with McTominay and sanctioned a £25m transfer to Italian giants Napoli. It is fair to say that the decision has turned out to be a poorly-judged one.
Manchester United replaced him by agreeing a deal worth up to £50.5m to sign Manuel Ugarte from Sporting, and the two players have had hugely contrasting fortunes since those two transfers.
mctominay-napoli-stats
As you can see in the graphic above, McTominay has delivered 20 goals and assists combined for Napoli, helping them to win the Serie A title last season.
The 28-year-old star won the Serie A Player of the Year award and his Transfermarkt value has shot up to £43m as a result of his exceptional performances, taking him on par with Mainoo and significantly higher than the £25m fee that Napoli paid for him.
Meanwhile, Ugarte delivered one goal and two assists in 29 appearances in the Premier League last season, per Sofascore, and has not started a single game in the current campaign.
At the time of writing, the Uruguay international's Transfermarkt value is £39m, which is less than McTominay's and far less than the £50.5m deal that was agreed for him last summer.
Ugarte
This shows that United had a howler last summer because they essentially swapped McTominay for Ugarte in the middle of the park, and are worse off for it at this moment in time given how the two players have performed and how their values have changed.
Manchester United, as evidenced by his form for Napoli, did not get the best out of McTominay, and they must now avoid repeating the same mistake with Mainoo by leaving him on the bench and in a set-up that seemingly does not suit him.