Manchester United and England icon Wayne Rooney has made his assessment perfectly clear regarding Kobbie Mainoo’s performances at the Red Devils this season.
Kobbie Mainoo has been hit with both injuries and limited Manchester United first-team playing time under former Red Devils manager Ruben Amorim.
What are your expectations for Kobbie Mainoo now Ruben Amorim has been fired?
Kobbie Mainoo in action during a first-team Manchester United training session at the Carrington training complex in 2025 in Manchester, England.
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The 20-year-old Stockport-born midfielder has made 12 Premier League appearances and Mainoo has not made a single start on any occasion in the league this season.
Mainoo has not netted or registered an assist in his Premier League matches either this season and his only starts came in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup campaigns.
The Red Devils midfielder’s first appearance in the starting XI in the 2025-26 season came last August in Man Utd’s defeat to Grimsby Town in the Carabao Cup.
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Kobbie Mainoo looks on during the Premier League match between Burnley and Manchester United at Turf Moor in 2026 in Burnley, England.
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What Wayne Rooney has felt about Kobbie Mainoo’s displays for Man Utd in the 2025-26 campaign
Kobbie Mainoo missed Ruben Amorim’s final four Manchester United matches as head coach before the 40-year-old Portuguese coach was sacked last week.
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The Man Utd talent overcame a calf injury and Mainoo made his return under caretaker manager Darren Fletcher in United’s 2-2 draw against Burnley last week.
What did you think of Kobbie Mainoo’s performance vs Brighton?
Did he do enough to earn a starting place vs City next weekend?
Kobbie Mainoo stats
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Following United’s Premier League result against Burnley at Turf Moor, Mainoo made his first start of 2026 in the Red Devils’ 2-1 FA Cup loss to Brighton at Old Trafford.
Speaking on his podcast, Wayne Rooney admitted that he has not been blown away by Mainoo’s performances in a United shirt in the 2025-26 Premier League season.
“I think Kobbie will certainly get more of a chance [at] what he’s had and then it’s on Kobbie,” he said on BBC Sport’s The Wayne Rooney Show.
“And I’ll be honest, I’ve been disappointed with him when he has had his opportunity.”
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Wayne Rooney on what he has noticed from Man Utd and England midfielder Kobbie Mainoo
United fans are optimistic that the appointment of Michael Carrick as interim head coach until the end of the season could be a fresh start for midfielder Mainoo.
Mainoo had been linked with an exit last summer on a loan after the England midfielder fell down the pecking order under former United manager Amorim.
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United legend Rooney is optimistic that Mainoo has the ability to bounce back from his current form and climb back into an important midfield role in the team.
“I know he hasn’t played many games, so he needs to obviously try and get his fitness levels back up to scratch as well, but I’m pretty certain he’ll get an opportunity to come back into the team,” he continued.
Mainoo played 60 minutes of Man Utd’s 2-1 defeat to Brighton in the third round of the FA Cup last weekend before Darren Fletcher subbed him off for Joshua Zirkzee.
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