Kobbie Mainoo is a player who is making fans crazy with his maturity far beyond the age of 18. He is gradually proving that he is capable of joining the England star team for Euro 2024.
Kobbie Mainoo is experiencing his 18th year extremely wonderfully in the past 6 months at the club and national team levels. He started his first Premier League match on November 27, 2023, scored his first goal for Man United on January 28, 2024, and was awarded the Red Devils’ best player of January title. In early February, Mainoo scored his first goal in the Premier League, receiving the title of best goal of the month.
On March 19, 2024, Mainoo was called up to the England team for the first time after an impressive performance in Man United’s 4-3 win over Liverpool in the FA Cup quarterfinals. And in England’s two recent friendly matches against Brazil and Belgium, coach Gareth Southgate put his trust in Mainoo.
Not living up to the British teacher’s expectations, Man United’s “Little Kid” in 15 minutes in the Brazil match had 21 touches of the ball, 20/20 successful passes, 1/1 successful dribble and 1/2 wins. duel dispute. Thanks to an impressive performance, Mainoo made his first start for England in the match against Belgium this morning, March 27.
In 74 minutes on the field, Mainoo still showed extremely calm play, smooth ball handling and the ability to regulate. He finished the match with a 100% successful tackle rate, 5 duels won, 3 ball recoveries, 2/3 successful dribbles, 2 interceptions, 1 clearance. Thanks to that, Man United’s young star received the best player of the match award even though seniors Rice and Bellingham played the full 90 minutes and Real’s star scored the equalizer in injury time.
The moment he left the field to make way for James Maddison, Mainoo received endless applause from the fans at Wembley as recognition for the young man’s efforts in recent times. At the end of the match, everyone from the coach to the players took their hats off in admiration at what the 18-year-old midfielder could do.
Coach Gareth Southgate said on beIN Sport: “He spent a great week with us, maintaining his form from the club to the national team, something many players cannot do. Very calm when receiving the ball, playing under pressure well, we benefited a lot from this performance.”
Bellingham shared: “ It’s difficult, I stand here talking like an old man but I know well how much pressure there is with a lot of talk and pressure being placed on Mainoo at this time. So I don’t want to add fuel to the fire but he is an excellent player, will have a great future at Man United and is the hope of England.”
Brentford striker Ivan Toney praised: “At 18, I’m probably playing an Xbox controller and he’s out there a man, playing for England. He glides with the ball and I’m sure he can do much more and will become a class player.”
Mainoo is developing on the right path, being well-trained at Carrington, and being facilitated by coach Erik Ten Hag in the first team. Besides, playing with many experienced players at Man United or England will help the player. This player has a lot of valuable experience.
While unable to solve the problem in the midfield, Southgate seems to have caught gold with Mainoo. At last week’s press conference, the 53-year-old strategist was disappointed about Alexander-Arnold’s injury, causing the plan to test this player as a deep-lying midfielder to ruin. He clearly stated that he has not yet decided which player will play with the Rice – Bellingham duo when Conor Gallagher is not classy enough and Jordan Herdenson is out of time.
But now Mainoo has appeared, helping Southgate relieve some of the headaches. It is not yet certain whether he will go to Germany in the summer or not, but with recent performances, fans consider Man United’s future star worthy of attending Euro 2024. with the England team, even starting on the field.
