It’s easy to criticise Ruben Amorim after being sacked and results in the Premier League have gone from approved to a hand on a Champions League ticket, but the treatment of one player remains one of the Portuguese’s big mistakes. We’ve never seen United legend Paul Scholes encourage a Manchester United player to sign for rivals Chelsea, but in the case of Kobbie Mainoo, Scholes was so frustrated and angry at the treatment Amorim had given to the club’s greatest talent that he recommended the 20-year-old move to Stamford Bridge. Now United are correcting the mistake.
In Michael Carrick’s first game as interim Man Utd manager, Kobbie Mainoo was back in the starting eleven. Manchester City were sunk at Old Trafford, the 20-year-old stood the entire game. Thus, a continuous downward streak was interrupted for Mainoo. Not a single game from the start with Amorim on the sidelines, the City game marked the change.
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From the City game onwards, Mainoo has been a given from the start, in ten games the 20-year-old has only missed 14 minutes, the rest full playing time. And the result? Seven wins, two draws and one loss with Mainoo in midfield, the player Ruben Amorim sent out into the cold.
According to English journalist David Ornstein, United and Mainoo are now well into negotiations on the contract extension that will extend until 2031 with significantly better wage terms than today.
It’s not just Paul Scholes who has realised what an extreme midfield asset United already have in their squad.
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