Kobbie Mainoo has taken the world by storm since making his first Premier League start against Everton at Goodison Park last year.
Since living up to the hype in his first year in the game, Mainoo ended last season having played and won the FA Cup final with Manchester United, as well as playing a key part in England’s second placed finish at the Euro’s in Germany.
While in camp, Mainoo struck up a good partnership with fellow Mancunian, Cole Palmer, with the pair becoming quite competitive in their time away from the pitch.
Speaking to British GQ, Palmer claimed: “I’m better at table tennis, he’s better at padel,” to which Mainoo replied: “You don’t believe that. Table tennis!?”
Padel became quite popular at England’s Blankenheim base in Germany, with Phil Foden and Adam Wharton also getting involved with the duo.
On the pitch, Mainoo offers something different to his compatriots, with qualities we haven’t often seen in English midfielders in years gone by.
“I like to watch Busquets, the way he used to turn. Players like Seedorf, Modric. Players like Yaya Toure – I like the way he used to play,” he said.
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Mainoo’s most impressive attribute is his press resistance and ability to keep hold of the ball. He rarely makes the wrong decisions in possession.
He is seen as someone who plays quite off the cuff. He said: “I don’t think about it too much. It’s more an in-the-moment type of thing. Like if I check, I see a guy here, then I’ll turn this way. Or if I don’t have to do that, I can just bounce out. I don’t think, like, I’m gonna turn here… it’s more that if the defender gives me an option, then I’m gonna take it.”
United have enjoyed a long-standing relationship with youth players, with 250 academy graduates debuting for the first team dating back to 1937. Ever since October that year, United have had an academy graduate in the match day squad.
Mainoo believes United’s insistence on youth is what gave him his opportunity.
He said: “I feel like at United it’s very much in the history that they play young players, going all the way back to the Busby Babes. There’s big writing up on the wall [at Carrington] saying, ‘If they’re good enough, they’re old enough.’”
Mainoo’s biggest career success to date is the FA Cup final where United beat the odds at Wembley in May to beat their cross-town rivals Manchester City.
On the triumph, Mainoo recalls: “I remember just the feeling around it was like, no one expects us to win. They’ve just written us off. I used that as motivation.”
“I won’t say it made the season a success for us as a team, but we definitely needed it. We couldn’t go into the summer with nothing, just finishing where we finished in the table. A trophy brings hope. But it definitely didn’t make the season a success.”
In the end, Mainoo may have been relieved to see Erik ten Hag leave Old Trafford, with the Dutchman’s delusion insisting he had been a major success in his time at the club after winning the Carabao Cup and FA Cup in successive seasons.
