Mainoo crushing Amorim in fight for Man Utd future as INEOS given Man City transfer headache

It looks like Ruben Amorim has picked a fight with the wrong man in Kobbie Mainoo, who’s up on points despite barely raising a fist and won’t need to do much more to land a knockout Manchester United blow.

A video of Pep Guardiola putting his hands on his head as Mainoo diddled Phil Foden before nutmegging Nico Gonzalez to launch a Manchester United attack has been doing the rounds this week, suggesting the Manchester City manager may actually be more appreciative of the 20-year-old’s talents than the man currently in control of his career. And our friends at TEAMtalk reported on Wednesday that that may indeed be the case.

‘TEAMtalk understands that Pep Guardiola, widely regarded as one of the game’s finest tacticians, views Mainoo as one of England’s brightest prospects.

‘While transfers between Man Utd and Man City are rare, Guardiola’s admiration could make this a situation worth monitoring closely.’

READ MORE: Solskjaer poised for ‘knows the club’ Man Utd call to replace Amorim despite Chelsea warning

Mainoo’s teammates are ‘perplexed’ at him being sidelined by Amorim, Gary Lineker is “really worried” about him being “dismissed” and “baffled” by him not starting, and so too is Owen Hargreaves, who quite rightly said he was United’s “best player by a country mile” having come off the bench at the Etihad.

Amorim believes he’s “helping” Mainoo, but it’s hard to see how and the academy graduate must be similarly confused as to why he’s not playing in a team performing so poorly. Just how bad do they have to be for him to be given a fair chance?

He’s been told by Amorim that it’s either him or Bruno Fernandes, but we refuse to accept that Mainoo – ill-suited or not – would fail to do a better job alongside the Manchester United captain than competition winner Manuel Ugarte. And what has Fernandes done to merit his spot in the team over him other than scoring a last-minute penalty against Burnley?

Mainoo is currently the second biggest stick to beat Amorim with aside from his failing philosophy and formation. It works in Mainoo’s favour with regard to his supporters and champions that his absence from the team is directly linked to that system, and very much against Amorim in the minds of those believing he should be sacked by Manchester United. Not only are they terrible, but there’s no place in the team for someone deemed by many to be the future of the club. It’s not a good look.

United may have been a mess before Amorim arrived, but Mainoo was brilliant, for them and then for England at Euro 2024, and his cameo against City goes to show that very same dynamic, skilful player is still in there.

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It remains to be seen whether it’s a performance which will push Amorim to stick him in the starting lineup against Chelsea, but that surely won’t be the case if he sticks to his either/or stance vs Fernandes. He’s not about to drop the United captain.

The obvious suggestion amid United’s poor start to the season and the decision not to grant Mainoo’s wish to leave the club on loan at the end of the transfer window is that he need only wait out Amorim to play regular football again.

Guardiola’s admiration, along with longstanding interest from Chelsea, links to Real Madrid and recent rumours of a January move for his services by Newcastle suggests Amorim is one of very few managers not valuing Mainoo’s quality enough to rely on him as a key cog in a starting lineup.

Most, we suspect, would be building the team around him.

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