In the 2023/24 season, he distinguished himself several times as Man Utd’s best player. Two years later, now 20-year-old young Kobbie Mainoo stands with 228 minutes in eight games in early November. Five, ten years ago, it was quite natural for a player who could have played for the academy, but completely unnatural for someone who made his breakthrough in the senior team already as an 18-year-old. Now even Ruben Amorim feels sorry for Mainoo.
While the 20-year-old is pushing for an exit in January and Antonio Conte is standing with open arms at Napoli, the United manager is fully aware that he should be able to offer Mainoo more game time, but outside of games in Europe and out of the League Cup, there are few games to offer the 20-year-old.
READ: Rio Ferdinand makes a bold claim about Cristiano Ronaldo and return to the Premier League
Because while the biggest rivals complain about too tight a fixture schedule, Manchester United only have Premier League and FA Cup games for the rest of the season.
“We have to get into Europe because of everything, our club has to be in Europe. It’s tough to have a really, really good squad. Imagine what it’s like for me to have Kobbie Mainoo, with the minutes he plays. He needs more games before I can do a rotation. With one game, it’s very difficult, because then I have to choose one of the players. When you have more games, you can split it up and handle the group in a different way,” Amorim told the Manchester Evening News.
Read on F7: Important decision presses for Alexander Sørloth
As you know, he was the one who led United to the loss of a Champions League ticket after the “first loser’s place” in the Europa League and a loss to fourth-division club Grimsby Town in the League Cup. Sorry, Kobbie, you chose the wrong season to be benched.
