Ruben Amorim said Kobbie Mainoo was uncomfortable having to fight to start for Manchester United but suggested the 20-year-old could become the world’s best midfielder.
Mainoo has made one substitute appearance in United’s opening three Premier League matches, coming on for the injured Mason Mount at half-time of the 3-2 win over Burnley before the international break. Under Erik ten Hag, Amorim’s predecessor, Mainoo was a regular in the XI. The Portuguese was asked how the England international had reacted to being demoted.
“He’s not used to fighting for his place, maybe,” Amorim said. “He’s uncomfortable, but he’s a very good kid. He wants to learn. Sometimes it’s hard to push different things from the players.”
Under Ten Hag, Mainoo scored United’s FA Cup-winning goal against Manchester City in the 2024 final. Later that summer he started England’s European Championship final defeat by Spain. When reminded of this pedigree Amorim pointed to Paris Saint-Germain’s Vitinha, who when on loan at Wolves for the 2020-21 season made only five league starts, as an example to Mainoo.
“I remember Vitinha was not playing for Wolverhampton,” Amorim said of his compatriot. “Nowadays, you can see that Vitinha is maybe the best midfielder in the world. So you never know. Something can happen sometimes.”
The coach recruited from Sporting last November continued: “The way I play is completely different from the last manager. I watched a lot of games from the Premier League in Portugal. You can feel then that Manchester United really [played in] transitions. He was the only guy that calmed down the game. Now we have other players that calm down the game.
“Sometimes I expect more from Kobbie Mainoo. Sometimes, maybe if I start [him] more, Kobbie Mainoo is going to play and he’s going to get hard to take out. I need to go with what I’m feeling at the moment and that is the only feeling. He’s starting the final of the European Championship in a team that has a lot of talented players – [Phil] Foden played that game, [Cole] Palmer was on the bench. He was playing. I know all that, but sometimes I have a different way of seeing the game.”
United are at City for Sunday’s derby. Pep Guardiola’s side have three points to United’s four but Amorim brushed off whether the Catalan was under the greater pressure.
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“You cannot compare. That guy is winning all the time. He can relax if he’s not winning any more. I have to prove it every day – I’m really comfortable with that. Compare me with the situation of Guardiola, it’s just a joke.
“We continue to have bigger problems but we are addressing everything. Sometimes we are frustrated, angry, but we are facing all the problems and we are trying to improve. I see the team playing so much better now. We just need to be more clinical to win more games and things are going to get easier.”
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