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Is Manchester United's 18-Year-Old Prodigy Kobbie Mainoo the Next Big Thing in Football

Is Manchester United’s 18-Year-Old Prodigy Kobbie Mainoo the Next Big Thing in Football?

Surprise to many, Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United are currently the most in-form teams in the 2023/2024 English Premier League Season with five wins out of their previous six matches, including their recent victory over Everton that saw 18-year-old Kobbie Mainoo, an unfamiliar figure at the middle area for the 20-time English champions. The midfield prodigy played the Matchday 13 fixture at Goodison Park for a good 72 minutes in his first ever start for Manchester United, leading the Red Devils to their eighth league win of the English top-flight football this season.

In case you have been wondering on the background of Kobbie Mainoo, we have covered everything you need to know about the 18-year-old down in this article. Check it out now!

18-year-old Kobbie Mainoo was in Stockport, England back in 2005, and have played for Cheadle & Gatley Junior Football Club before moving to the academy side of the Red Half of Manchester United at the age of nine. He would go on to collect four appearances for the Manchester United U-21 side, impressing senior side gaffer ten Hag during the process and prompting the Dutchman to give his professional senior debut last season, when he came on as a substitute against Charlton Athletic F.C. in the EFL Cup. In addition to a couple of cup game appearances, Kobbie Mainoo also represented Manchester United in the league once in 2022/2023, where the Red Devils beat the-now relegated Leicester City 3-0.

The game against Everton perhaps was dominated by Alejandro Garnacho’s sublime overhead kick for United’s opening goal of the game, but Kobbie Mainoo’s performance in his first ever competitive start for the senior side attracted many applauses from spectators and pundits, most notably from two former captains of the Red Devils, Roy Keane and Gary Neville.

“He looked like he always had time on the ball today, his decision-making, in terms of when to go long when to go short, in terms of off the ball as well. What an all-round performance,” said Keane bout Kobbie Mainoo, who completed the third-highest 38 passes in the United side and had the best pass accuracy of 82.6% among the visitors’ starting 11. Neville, on the other hand, could not be happier with the young player’s performance: “Thankfully Man United have got him because he looks so composed, so graceful, always looking over his shoulder, knowing where everyone is, letting it run across his body.”

 
 
 
 
 
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The former winner of the Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year Kobbie Mainoo have represented the Three Lions at the youth levels of U-17, U-18 and U-19, but his nationality suggests that he is eligible to play for African side Ghana national team. It would be interesting to see where the young midfielder could end up at in terms of international level should he continue to replicate his performance against Everton for Manchester United in the next few years.

Elsewhere in other major European leagues, a couple of England players are tearing teams apart in Spain and Germany, and they are going neck and neck for the race of the best summer signing in the 2023/2024 Season. Find out more about the full story in this article now.

With his performance against Everton last time around, and that he was substituted in the 72nd minute of the match, the 18-year-old Kobbie Mainoo is likely to be featured in Manchester United’s crucial Matchday 5 fixture of Group A versus Turkish Süper Lig side Galatasaray S.K. in the UEFA Champions League. It is worth mentioning that Kobbie Mainoo have not played in the Champions League before and United are currently sitting at the bottom of the European club football competition, meaning they must put up with superior results in their remaining two matches of this phase in order to qualify for the next round of the competition.

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