Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim says he will not pick Kobbie Mainoo for the first XI, or not pick him, because of an incident involving the player’s brother. Amorim was speaking at the pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday’s trip to face Aston Villa at Villa Park. First on the agenda was team news for the game. “I think everyone is well, we have one more training but today the rest of the guys are ready to go;” Amorim said. Asked if that means Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt are available, he replied “no. I’m saying that nobody recovers, nobody else is out.” On Kobbie Mainoo’s t-shirt incident As expected, Amorim was then asked about Kobbie Mainoo’s brother wearing a “Free Kobbie Mainoo” t-shirt at Monday’s match. There have been reports that it was done with Kobbie’s blessing. “No, was not Kobbie that wore the t-shirt, he’s not going to start because of the t-shirt and he’s not going to the bench because of the t-shirt,” Amorim insisted. “He’s going to play if we feel he’s the right guy. I’m used to it, I’ve been here for a year. I’m not going to do something to Kobbie because someone on his family is doing something, it’s going to be the same. If he’s the right guy to play, he’ll play.” On Sunday’s Opponents Asks what he expects from Sunday’s game, Amorim said: “Everything can happen. They have a manager with a lot of experience, you can see when you watch Villa you can sense it’s a very mature team, he doesn’t panic when they’re losing, he doesn’t feel overwhelmed when winning, he can control the emotion. I think they are a very strong team. If they are going to fight until the end, I don’t know, but they are capable of that. The next question was “In terms of United, at the moment, only City, have scored more goals. You probably conceded more than you wanted to. How do you find the balance between attack and defence?” “We watched the game again against Bournemouth. We can avoid that goal,” he said. “It was a lot of transition. We have to put everything on the line when we are defending, and sometimes we are not doing that. We need to work on some details to suffer less goals because in the end, it’s going to make the difference.” Returning to the subject of Kobbie Mainoo, the boss was asked if he had spoken to the player. “He played really well. That is the important thing. Then my office is always open. Nobody went there this week. I think everything is normal and we are ready to go to Villa.” Bruno Fernandes comments Next up was the interview released this week with Bruno Fernandes, in which he stated he was unhappy that the club was willing to sell him in the summer. “How have you found … Bruno’s interview from a few weeks ago came out with some quotes. I know he did another interview with the club as well, with Rio Ferdinand, but it’s just another situation that you have to deal with.” Amorim answered: “The difference is that he spoke with the club before that interview and he said what he’s feeling. Of course, we can avoid these things because we already know the noise. But he talk with the board and I think everything is clear.” A reporter followed up with “One of the things that he did say in the interview that he did with the Portuguese Federation was that he didn’t think that everybody defended the club the way that he does, that almost as though some people don’t care as much as he does. Is that fair? What do you think?” “I don’t know it’s fair,” he answered. “He just spoke about what is his feelings, and he needs to answer to that. It’s not me. I think he is an example that he gives everything. He puts everything on the line in every training, in every match. In that department, he’s special. I think he has that feeling. We need to step up and to have also that feeling. We need to ask him because I think he’s a big example in the group.” “But he’s the captain,” the reporter insisted. “He’s the biggest person in the dressing room. It would be a concern if that was really what he felt?” “He spoke his feelings,” Amorim replied. “Again, I think when I watched Bruno training and playing, he’s a special character. I think the numbers, the amount of games, everything prove that he is a different player.” The Kobbie Mainoo issue then reappeared again, with Amorim being asked if the leadership group had been involved with the issue. “No, it’s continue a little bit everything on my desk, every problem in the football club is still me that has to deal with that, but this will take time. But again, my door is always open and there was not Kobbie. The job of Kobbie is to train and to play. I felt that he did really well this game. That is the most important thing for me. If he has to play, he’s going to play. If he’s not going to play, he’s not going to play.” Amorim’s academy comments In the last pre-match press conference Amorim made some controversial remarks about how academy stars have struggled on loan. Had he Amorim seen Chido Obi and Harry Amass’ posts on social media in response to his remarks? Did he think it was “petty”? “I think it’s a little bit the feeling of entitlement that we have in our club,” he answered. “Sometimes strong words is not bad words. Sometimes difficult moments is not the bad things for the kids. We don’t need to be always with accolades in everything, in every situation. We are not helping. That’s why you guys talk about a lot of players nowadays that they speak and they go against the clubs and everything happened because they feel entitlement. Then you have legends of the club saying that, if you don’t play, leave because everyone is wrong. No, let’s think about, Let’s stay, let’s fight, let’s It’s overcome. Maybe the manager is wrong. I have that feeling all the time that we need to fight against this feeling.” “Again, sometimes I’m the first one to say that I’m failing this club inside the pitch. I have that feeling. We are not performing the way we should be, but outside the pitch, I guarantee you I’m not failing to this club. I think it’s something in our club, and we talk about the players sometimes forget about what it means to play for Manchester United. We, as a club, sometimes forget who we are. “That’s the feeling that I have. I understand everything. It’s the environment, it’s the moment of the players, the kids, they feel entitled, they feel free to respond the manager with a picture. My office is open, nobody’s coming to talk to me. That is the way we can solve things. I we need to change first as a club, and then everything is going to change.” He was then asked if he’d prefer if “they actually did come in to you and seek an explanation rather than going on Instagram.” “Everything. But again, I didn’t say nothing wrong. I just spoke about the luck of playing for Manchester United. Sometimes you play for Manchester United and you go see a different realities and you understand that football can be so different and that you are really lucky to be in Manchester United. That was my idea. But again, let’s move on. And with the time that I think these things will change.” On Sir Alex Ferguson’s comments The next question was “You said a lot is still coming onto your desk. Are you saying that you’d hope that maybe the leadership team, some of the senior players, would take a bit more responsibility at this stage for some of those things? And also … Alex Ferguson has done an interview in Bahrain, and he said, it’s not easy what you are facing. He likened it to what Liverpool faced. They won the title in 1990, then they went 30 years before they won it again. He’s saying it could be another 10 or 11 years before United win this title. I just wondered what you thought about that as well.” “He understands football more than me, especially English football,” the boss admitted. “I think we are not take that long to win the league, and I don’t know which manager is going to be here. But I truly believe that we can fight for the title in the next years. I think it’s not going to take so many years, but you never know. In relation to leadership, it’s the moment of the club, and you have to fight all the fights here inside, and I’m here to do that. Until I’m here, I will fight. I will not back down, and I have to solve everything.” The reporter said “you can’t do everything, though, Ruben. You are going to need players to pull the players into line at times, surely. You’re going to need that. To get the team to help police itself.” “We are improving as a team, we are improving as a group, and we are going to improve in these small things,” he replied. “That will make difference even to suffer goals. If we are a different group, we are going to suffer less goals, but we are scoring more. Let’s think about the positives and think about the Villa game.” The embargoed section of the presser will be released at 10.30pm tomorrow and will be available in full here. Featured image Matt McNulty via Getty Images The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social Red Billy Red Billy is the managing editor of The Peoples Person, author of three books and two magazines and totally obsessed with football’s transfer market. Billy first saw United live in 1971, watching George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law, before becoming a League Match ticket book holder from 1975/76 and a writer since 1995. Billy still insists Matteo Darmian and Alex Telles could have made it at United given half a chance.
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