Republik Of Mancunia: A Manchester United Blog
Republik Of Mancunia: A Manchester United Blog
Kobbie Mainoo has had an incredibly mixed year, with great highs but also disappointing lows. Ruben Amorim, for whatever strange reason, didn’t have the young midfielder as part of his plans. Mainoo didn’t start a single league game for United in the first half the season when Amorim was in charge. When Michael Carrick came in at the turn of the year he put Mainoo straight in to the team and played him every week, which saw him earn a place in the PFA Young Player of the Year shortlist. This is a remarkable achievement for someone who only had half a season of playing regularly.
Having not been in the England squad before Amorim’s sacking, Mainoo not only returned to the squad but earned himself a seat on the plane to the USA for the World Cup. Frustratingly, Thomas Tuchel didn’t given Mainoo a single minute of playing time.
Speaking to TNT Sports, Carrick has spoken about how good Mainoo has looked since returning to Carrington.
I’ve only seen positives since he came back. Since he returned, you could see that he was delighted to be here. He had a break and it was important that he went away and switched off.
Kobbie is strong. He’s had some huge highs and some challenging times already in his career, and he’s only 21, which is incredible. But he’s got that stubbornness about him that I love in a footballer, where he deals with things so well. He’s been great in training, he’s ready for a big season and that experience [with England] will help him.
It’s frustrating because he wanted to go and play and do more obviously but, sometimes, you’ve got to learn from other things. We’re there to support him and I’ve certainly tried to be there for him during the summer. But he’s in a really good place, and I’m looking forward to seeing him play this season.