Kobbie Mainoo is open to leaving Man Utd on loan in January as he seeks more first-team football, having struggled for minutes under Ruben Amorim.
Kobbie Mainoo
Kobbie Mainoo made his 10th substitute appearance of the season for United at Wolves
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Ruben Amorim has told Kobbie Mainoo to knock on his door and tell him if he wants to leave Manchester United in the January transfer window. Mainoo is open to a loan away from Old Trafford and Serie A champions Napoli are still interested in taking him to Italy.
Mainoo has struggled for game time under Amorim this season and hasn't started at all in the Premier League. The 20-year-old has managed just 183 minutes across 10 substitute appearances and feels he needs to play first-team football to continue his development.
Amorim has settled on a midfield partnership of Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes this season and has said Mainoo is competing with Fernandes for a starting role. His chances of playing as a No. 10 have receded with the summer additions of Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha.
The United head coach has revealed that Mainoo hasn't told him he wants to leave the club next month, but has urged the academy graduate to discuss his future with him.
"The team comes first and if Kobbie comes to me and talks to me, I will talk to him," said Amorim. "I'm not going to say what I'm going to say to Kobbie but I will be really pleased if Kobbie comes to talk to me about that. I just want my players happy and I understand that every individual has their goals.
"The frustration doesn't help anybody. But again, the focus is on this game and we will see if that happens. I had some conversations with him, especially last year, and with other players but about that subject, no. I didn't speak with him."
Amorim's lack of faith in Mainoo has become clear this season, but he insisted he did rate the player and that the door to forcing his way into the team wasn't closed, using the example of Casemiro, who dropped out of the picture last season and fell behind Toby Collyer before staging a renaissance this season.
"The problem is that we are playing with two and you guys see Kobbie in a different way than I'm seeing," he said. "Maybe if you play with three midfielders, not with just two, but with three, Kobbie will have more minutes.
"Imagine that this happens. Someone in front is going to lose their spot. Sometimes it's just the moment. Again, I think I proved that. If you change my mind, because Casemiro is I think the biggest example. He was behind Toby and now he's a star.
"The door is open for any player to change my mind. But in the end it's going to be the training, the games. Of course, he's not playing so many games, but Kobbie has had opportunities, especially last year. Everyone has.
"[Harry] Amass is now struggling in the Championship. Chido is not always a starter in under-21s. All these guys played when a lot of people were saying sack the manager.
"So you can see that I'm not worried. I just look at the team and try to win the next game and try to think about the team."
Amorim referenced the opportunities he had given to Amass, Collyer and Chido after facing criticism recently over his treatment of Mainoo and a perceived lack of faith in the academy.
He also insisted he didn't mind talking about Mainoo, despite a spiky press conference ahead of the win against Wolves when he seemed to object to being asked about him so often.
Amorim also said that Mainoo could take Casemiro's position, but suggested that would only happen as a substitute and in certain circumstances, which is unlikely to offer too much hope to the midfielder.
"Yes, he can. Against West Ham was Manu [Ugarte] that comes for Bruno's position. Bruno goes up because I was feeling that with 10 minutes it's going to be long balls, second balls," he said.
"I was thinking that, I think it was against Everton. I took Casemiro out and I put Kobbie in that because we were trying to play a different game.
"He can play in that position. But it's hard sometimes. If you look at our team with Cunha, Bryan, sometimes Bruno, that you guys say is a No.10. Sometimes Kobbie, Manu, you have to think I'm the guy for blocking transitions, all these things. He needs to spend more time there but he can be in the future that position."