There is “increasing confidence” at Manchester United that 19-year-old academy graduate Kobbie Mainoo will pen a new deal at the club while staying at Old Trafford is expected to be the youngster’s “priority”, according to reports.
Mainoo exploded onto the scene last season and, while he is yet to find his best role in Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-3 system, he remains a key part of the United squad.
But as finances have started to trump football since INEOS’ arrival, the youngster was linked with a sensational Old Trafford exit, as any money received for his sale would count as ‘pure profit’.
Chelsea were said to be particularly interested in signing him, and the rumoured price tag was £70m.
However, the unsavoury saga of his potential departure could be nearing completion as GIVEMESPORT report that United have “reopened discussions” with the player over an “improved contract”.
The report explains that there is “increasing confidence that he will stay at Old Trafford instead of embarking on a fresh challenge when the summer transfer window opens for business.”
Combined with the later assertion that “Mainoo’s priority is to stay with his boyhood club”, the future looks much rosier than it did during a fraught January transfer window.
Now, far from trying to sell him, club bosses are said to have “made it clear” to the player that “handing him an extended agreement has been earmarked as a priority after they succeeded in persuading Amad Diallo to renew his contract.”
Reports surfaced earlier this week that Mainoo wanted as much as £180,000 a week plus bonuses to bring his wages in line with other senior players in the squad.
His current deal, which runs for a further two years, earns him £20,000 a week, and there is an acceptance on all sides that a considerable pay rise will be secured.
According to GIVEMESPORT, the England international wants his new pay package to be “in the region of £150,000 per week”, with the possibility of his wages increasing by an extra £30,000 if United “are involved in the Champions League and potential bonuses are taken into consideration.”
The odds of any Champions League clauses kicking in next season are very slim, with the Red Devils’ only entry route an unlikely Europa League win this campaign.
The task is made all the harder by the length of Amorim’s injury list, with Mainoo being one of the most significant names on that particular list.
The report explains that the United boss “still believes that he can fit into his preferred system after making a full recovery from injury.”
Feature image Glyn Kirk via Getty Images
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Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
