THE INCREDIBLE RISE OF KOBBIE MAINOO

CALLUM HUMPHREY HOW THE YOUNG MIDFIELDER HAS BLOSSOMED AT MANCHESTER UNITED AND COULD DO THE SAME FOR ENGLAND THIS SUMMER

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WHO would have thought that a 19-year old born and bred in Stockport with just one Premier League appearance to his name before the start of this season would steal the show?

But in what have been trying circumstances at his boyhood club Manchester United, Kobbie Mainoo has risen out of the gloom and projected his name to the nation.

Made in the Red Devils’ academy having joined at the age of nine, Mainoo represents the whole essence of the club that has been vastly lacking in recent history. He evokes memories of the plethora of talent that came through the regime in the ‘golden age’ where they were such an unstoppable force under Sir Alex Ferguson.

With a Premier League debut off the bench and a couple of cup showings to his name in 2022-23, manager Erik ten Hag saw this as the year for Mainoo’s next step. However, after touring the United States with the fi rst team in pre-season, the youngster picked up an injury which cast him back into the shadows of the football world.

Hence, when Mainoo’s name was listed on the teamsheet for the Premier League trip to Everton it was treated with a sense of shock. Who was this unknown midfielder? How would he cope in an under-fire team facing a daunting trip to a boisterous Goodison Park? The feeling was it was unfair and another mistake from the manager to throw his prodigy into the harshest of environments where surely he would be left flapping and flailing.

How wrong we were then when he produced a calm, assured performance to lead his side to a 3-0 victory - and now the world was truly awake to his potential.

A stranger no more, Mainoo followed it up with goals against Newport County (FA Cup) and Wolves - a dramatic injury-time winner - and stabilised his position in central midfield, emulating the superstars of yesteryear such as Roy Keane and Paul Scholes.