Kobbie Mainoo “must be really annoyed” after Sir Jim Ratcliffe ‘declared war’ to deny him his desired contract while several Manchester United flops are on “crazy wages”.
Mainoo was deemed ‘untouchable’ by Ratcliffe, along with Rasmus Hojlund and Alejandro Garnacho, when the British billionaire first arrived at Old Trafford in February 2024.
But as the severity of the financial problems at the club have become clear, every player now has a price and amid interest from Chelsea last summer, United are open to the academy graduate’s departure, preferably abroad.
They would prefer Mainoo to stay but are unwilling to bend to his £150,000 per week wage demands, with Ratcliffe ushering a new era of heavily incentivised contracts that have a much lower base pay, claimed to be a declaration of war.
The offer would surely see a significant increase in his current £20,000 per week, but Mainoo is now reportedly considering his options after talks with the club.
Former United goalkeeper Ben Foster reckons the 19-year-old – who’s been shining light for the club since breaking into the team last season – must be “really annoyed” by the new policy as a number of his teammates, like Casemiro (£350k) and Mason Mount (£250k), are on absurd wages.
“It must really annoy Kobbie Mainoo, because he must be looking around at some of the players that are on crazy wages that are nowhere near as good as him,” the ex-Wrexham shot-stopper said on his Fozcast podcast. “They don’t put in any of the performances that he puts in, and they’re earning three, four, five or even six times the amount he is.
“I thought that after the Euros, he was going to go on to be a world beater this season. I still think there’s a world beater there as well and it’s probably mental fatigue or a bit of burnout. I think we will see an absolute player.”
He added: “He’s not in any position right now because of circumstances to go making demands. He’s still got three years left on his contract with an option. If he was at Chelsea, he’d be on £150,000 per week so that’s his argument. But then the club come at it from their perspective and go, ‘Well, you’ve still got three years left on your contract.’”
Chelsea were heavily linked in the summer and again in January, but given United’s reticence to sell Mainoo to a Premier League rival, former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson reckons Mainoo could struggle to find a new club.
Borson told Football Insider: “He’s a valuable player from a PSR perspective because it goes straight to the bottom line and it’s close to pure profit from a PSR perspective.
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“But you’ve got to replace that player and it sounds like his wages at the moment are manageable.
“Clearly, if you buy a player, the chances are the wages will be higher and you will have a transfer fee to amortise over the lifetime of that contract, so it can be a false economy.
“Really what you end up doing is taking an immediate profit but then spreading the cost over the next five years, so I don’t think the Mainoo sale will be driven by PSR. I think they’ll have a look at whether the player is considered good enough.
“I think there’s a big issue as to where he’s going to go abroad. I don’t really see that. No league in the world can outpay what the Premier League would pay, so I think if he’s going to go, the likelihood is he stays in the Premier League somewhere.
“We know Chelsea have expressed interest. I would think if he does leave United, which I think he probably won’t, then he’ll stay in the Premier League. Otherwise, you’d really question who in European football has got the money to pay £40-50million for him.
“I can’t see it. You are talking about Bayern Munich and PSG. It’s hard to think of anybody else that would be interested and could actually do the deal.
“It’s not that teams wouldn’t be interested, but in terms of being able to do the deal, it feels like probably just those two teams.”
