Kobbie Mainoo’s situation is dominating the agenda at Manchester United after Ruben Amorim snubbed him for both Premier League games, but his teammate in a similar boat is equally as worrying.
Ruben Amorim is facing his first genuine backlash from the Man Utd fans over his treatment of Kobbie Mainoo, who hasn’t come off the bench in two games the team has struggled to control the ball.
Add to it Manuel Ugarte’s below-par displays, and Amorim’s sketchy reasoning behind Mainoo’s exclusion, and it makes sense why Mainoo is looking for a way out.
However, all these developments mean that another player who is in the same boat as Mainoo isn’t generating as much discussion.
Bryan Mbeumo, Joshua Zirkzee and Benjamin Sesko of Manchester Utd during the Premier League match between Fulham and Manchester United at Craven Cottage on August 24, 2025
Photo by Shaun Brooks – CameraSport via Getty Images
Ruben Amorim is yet to play Joshua Zirkzee
Mainoo at least played a part in the pre-season, so if he’s called up to start for United, he will do so from a position of being match-fit.
The same can’t be said for Joshua Zirkzee, who was already behind the rest of the team after missing the whole pre-season through injury.
Zirkzee’s stock rose at the end of the last season, and it resulted in the club rebuffing enquiries for him this summer.
Amorim supposedly had big plans for Zirkzee, but with zero minutes played in a grand total of seven games so far (five friendlies + two league games), the situation is concerning.
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Zirkzee was unfit for the five pre-season friendlies, but that makes it all the more important that Amorim starts building him up by giving him a run out off the bench.
Instead, Man Utd fans have been treated to Harry Maguire playing as the emergency striker in both games, with Ayden Heaven and Manuel Ugarte coming on when the team was looking for a goal.
Amorim’s subs are setting the wrong tone
Amorim said after the draw against Fulham that his squad is suffering from the wounds of last season, which is why they go into defence-first mode if they score first, hoping to eke out a win.
However, the manager’s substitutions have a huge role to play in that, because he is permeating a feeling of nervousness with his changes.
Four out of five changes against Fulham were defensive, regardless of the role they ended up playing. That’s indefensible when players like Kobbie Mainoo and Zirkzee are on the pitch.
Zirkzee, in particular, can theoretically stitch the play together beautifully alongside Cunha and Mbeumo, but theoretically is all that can be said about that trio.
Amorim can’t call out the team for being afraid of losing when his subs send the very same message. Mainoo’s situation is concerning, but his (lack of) use of Zirkzee is equally as concerning.
Those two players playing zero minutes so far this season sum up the questions surrounding the manager.