“Free Kobbie Mainoo”.
It’s a sentiment that a number of Manchester United fans, and even members of Maino’s family, haven’t been shy about expressing over the past year. Under Ruben Amorim, it’s fair to say the 20-year-old’s early career and momentum hit a major bump in the road.
The midfielder – who Gary Neville once said he had “the world at his feet” after his league games – played a key role for England as the Three Lions reached the Euro 2024 final.
Now, yet to make a Premier League start this season but still harboring hopes of making a sensational return to the national team, Mainoo has Michael Carrick to learn from.
United’s new interim head coach patrolled the midfield with a wide margin in his playing days. Now, with the middle of the park a perennial concern at Old Trafford, one of his many tasks will be to free Mainoo.
“I think he’s more of a striker. I don’t see him as a midfielder,” Carrick said in the summer. Rio Meetsasked about Mainoo.
“He’s probably that line above with a bit more freedom. I think there are different ways to defend. You can defend on that higher line a bit, but defending deep around your centre-back is a bit different.
“I’ve seen him play a bit more with that freedom and create and take the ball. I think he’s got a huge future. I really like him, I think he just needs a bit of patience and that bit of a break again, which I’m sure he’ll get.”
“He’s got it and he’s shown it. It’s a breath of fresh air the way he takes the ball and plays forward and commits people, he can play, he can dribble, he can pass. It doesn’t leave you and I think it’s just waves that can come and go with time. I’ve seen it so many times.”
The Mainoo brother wore a shirt that had Free Kobbie Mainoo’ printed on the front last month. Credit – Jordan Mainoo-Hames/Instagram
When asked directly if he would build the current United squad around him, Carrick said: “I think the club has a player who has come through the academy and knows the club and feels it, I think you have to.”
“United have to have an element of that. It always did, it always should, it always has.”
“To have the kind of talent he’s already shown, you’ve got to have players like that, you can say they get it, they know it, let’s help them, let’s build them up and stick with them and I think there’s certainly a place for him there.”
Saturday, January 17 at 11:00 a.m
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Where does Mainoo play its best football?
Mainoo’s current problem is that he is yet to carve out a visible role in Man Utd’s first team. In November, Paul Scholes told Sky Sports that the ideal United midfielder must be able to do “everything”.
The same thoughts were echoed by Carrick, who told Rio Ferdinand that “a good midfielder can play in different ways”. Mainoo has been the subject of an experiment to test that theory since he broke through.
Mainoo has played a variety of roles since breaking into the Manchester United first team
Under Erik ten Haag, the then 18-year-old was handed his first start at the foot of United’s midfield at Everton, impressing alongside Scott McTominay. A flash in the pan turned into a bust in the box as his first season, as his first leg involvement culminated in the winning goal in the FA Cup final, again as part of a midfield duo – this time in partnership with Sofian Amrabat.
For England, Mainoo would play a similar role as a No.8 alongside Declan Rice at the Euros, starting every game from the final group stage onwards.
Amorim’s eventual arrival at Manchester United cast doubt on Mainu’s role. Originally used as part of a two, sitting in front of Amorim’s infamous back three, Mainoo would continue to be deployed as a number 10 and as a false number 9 at times throughout the season.
This campaign, Amorim has made it clear that Mainoo will be challenging for a place in the team against the unmoved Bruno Fernandes. The United captain, until his injury in December, started every game this season apart from United’s Carabao Cup defeat to Grimsby.
However, his injury did not give Mainoo a chance as he too picked up a knock which ruled him out until Fernandes’ return. The 3-4-2-1 didn’t suit Mainoo, but in returning to a more flat back four on his return to the team under Darren Fletcher, he showed some promise.
4-2-3-1 was Carrick’s most used formation during his time at Middlesbrough, with the former Manchester United midfielder lining up in 90% of his matches at the Riverside.
Mainoo could emerge as one of the key beneficiaries of Carrick’s 17 games at his old ground. Maybe then we could see a change in match wear for all the Mainoo family members worried about his lack of ‘freedom’.