“He’s with us”: Manager confirms United wonderkid overlooked by Amorim training with them ahead of January move

Manchester United’s academy talents were ignored and criticised by Ruben Amorim, often unjustly. The former head coach criticised Chido Obi, Harry Amass, and Toby Collyer, while refusing to hand Kobbie Mainoo a start in the Premier League despite the obvious midfield deficiencies. Plenty of Carrington’s finest have been waiting in the wings to make their first team debut, and only towards the end of Amorim’s regime did Jack Fletcher and Shea Lacey come on for their debuts. There are quite a few others, like Sekou Kone, who were close to a breakthrough last season, but the Portuguese tactician did not trust him enough in the end. Amorim did not trust Sekou Kone He impressed on the post-season tour of Asia, and was part of the pre-season squad but did not make it off the bench. That clearly showed chances would be limited and there were talks of a loan move in the summer but it did not materialise. A horror injury further restricted his minutes for the U21s. And now, the Malian, who is fully fit, has been linked with a temporary switch to INEOS-owned club FC Lausanne Sport in the winter window. As revealed by Blick, the 19-year-old is already training with the Swiss side, and is also expected to play in one of their friendlies against either Xamax or Nyon. Training with FC Lausanne Sport The Swiss Super League side already have Enzo Kana-Biyik on loan from the Red Devils, and a final decision on whether Sekou Kone will join them is expected before the window closes. Manager Peter Zeidler revealed, “Yes, he’s (Sekou Kone) been with us for a few days, we know he’s a good player and we’ve been watching him closely. He’ll play with us on Thursday against Xamax or Nyon. On whether it is a trial, the German replied, “I don’t really like that term; it doesn’t reflect reality. “He’s with us, we can observe him closely, and we’ll make a decision, just like we did last summer with Enzo Kana-Biyik, a very good young player who improved a lot in just a few months with us despite his early-season injury, and who also belongs to Manchester United. January move in the pipeline “We saw his quality, particularly with his assist against Fiorentina. We have good experience with Enzo, so why not with Sekou Koné? But to say today whether he’ll come, I don’t know. It depends on several factors; we’ll decide between January 15th and February 15th, as with all players.” It will be interesting to see if INEOS actually loan him out, especially if the new caretaker boss decided to rely on youth once he comes in. 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 Ayantan Chowdhury After failing to become a professional footballer, Ayantan switched to the next best thing: writing about the greatest football club in the world. He has extensive sports journalism experience, having worked for over 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25