The rise of Manchester United starlet Kobbie Mainoo | OneFootball

The last 12 months have seen the meteoric rise of Kobbie Mainoo but like the making of any successful player, the process has been in the works for many a year.

After an impressive pre-season that was ruined by an unfortunate ankle injury, he made his full debut in the Premier League and has won over numerous hard to please pundits such as Paul Scholes and Roy Keane.

The 19 year old quickly became a regular in the heart of the United midfield and made his senior England debut in March. The season would end with the Stockport native scoring a crucial second goal to help his side win the FA Cup final and he has continued to impress, earning his first start in a major tournament as England squeezed past Slovakia to make the Euro 2024 quarter finals.

But where did it all begin? As The Athletic notes, as a four year old for his local side Cheadle and Gatley, he used to “dominate games” and was even thrown in against the older boys, but it was not enough to disrupt his ease on the pitch.

His first coach Steve Vare claimed “I had to make up all sorts of different things — that he could only score with his weaker foot or he had to pass it to a team-mate” just to provide any sort of challenge for the supremely gifted child.

“I’d push him against bigger lads. You’d have to be careful because if they weren’t ready, the physicality would shock them, but it never did with Kobbie.”

In search of greater tests, Mainoo went to Failsworth Dynamos, coincidentally in Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s hometown, where coach Ian Kelly claims he was “all tricks, skill and taking people on” and they he was the one who had to teach him the basics of the game such as passing and playing in a team. However, as would be a theme of the youngster’s career, he adapted and learned exceedingly quickly, all in a few months.

Mainoo would also be heavily influenced by coach Paul Newton, who provided him with one-on-one training and he stated that both the Manchester giants wanted him when he was just six but Mainoo was always “adamant” about joining the Red Devils.

He was worked out by both academies but “after a year or so, at under-eight level, a decision had to be made. Mainoo chose United because of the freedom offered by coaches — the loose structure that allowed boys to get on the ball and make mistakes.”

The youngster also played for Newton’s team Shots while he was at Failsworth and had a plethora of scouts following his every move including when he scored the winning goal in North West Champions League final.

“At Shots, there were several young boys with famous surnames also under Newton’s care, including Kai Rooney, Jacey Carrick, Ben Aguero, Roman Walker, and Tyler and Jack Fletcher. Newton continued to provide personal sessions for Mainoo to focus on his shooting, tackling and speed until he began to make a bigger impression at United’s academy.”

Newton claims he would impress the older kids by showing off his natural gymnast side by performing a trick by throwing the ball up, doing an overhead kick and volleying it into the net, then somehow land back on his feet, all when he was only nine years old.

Mainoo also continued to progress through the United academy and was regularly challenged by playing numerous advanced roles. United academy director Nick Cox stated, “we encourage them to experiment and show flair because that’s what it should look like.”

Referring to Mainoo he claimed, “we expose players to a variety of positions because you don’t know how they’re going to develop physically or which skills are going to be their most prominent in adult life, so we played him in a range of positions — but he’s always been a creative, attacking player.”

Despite his skill and talent, Cox claims that the staff at the academy also knew that his natural athletic power would come out as well, which it has in the first team.

Nonetheless, one man who was not so initially impressed was that of manager Erik ten Hag who believed the player was too passive, static and modest when playing for the under-21s.

“He could have been making a greater impact on games by demanding the ball more, dribbling with it and pressing with higher intensity — but the manager soon sensed Mainoo was very coachable, would listen calmly to instructions, and worked hard.”

Mainoo impressed sufficiently to be training with the first team since Christmas 2022 and made his debut against Charlton in the Carabao Cup in January 2023.

He had also cut his teeth in the 2021 UEFA Youth League and manager of the under-19 side at that time, Neil Wood said “we knew the games were going to be challenging for him because he was playing against guys who were possibly 18 months older than him. And also, you’re playing against good players in European competition.”

United continued to try and push the gifted talent without breaking him and Wood commented, “Kobbie was always talked about as a player with high technical ability. He could deal with the ball well and that’s what people meant when, years ago, they said, ‘That’s a Man United player’.

“Look at the way he carries the ball, the way he receives it, the passes he plays, the vision. They were the bits with Kobbie where you’d go, ‘He could be special here if all goes well’.”

His rapid progress and determination to learn meant a loan was never really on the cards as he automatically filled a need in Ten Hag’s team to be someone who was comfortable enough on the ball to collect it from defenders in deep positions and show resistance to the press, something he has excelled at ever since his inclusion in the first team.

Naturally, there have been some blips along the way but “United sources say Mainoo takes great care in learning from his mistakes so he does not repeat them.”

What is abundantly clear is that the Red Devils have a very special and humble talent on their books who is eager to learn at all opportunities and this should stand him in good stead to have an incredible career at Old Trafford where hopefully an FA Cup is just the start of a trophy laden era at the club he adores.

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