Kobbie Mainoo was pushing for a loan move away from boyhood club Manchester United in the January transfer window. He hadn’t started a single Premier League game under Ruben Amorim and with the World Cup approaching, Mainoo had to consider his options. He had started the last final England had played in less than two years ago but now wasn’t even in the squad.
Amorim was sacked and his replacement, Michael Carrick, has played the lifelong Red in every minute possible. As a result, Mainoo has been shortlisted for the Premier League Young Player of the Year award and was recalled to the England squad.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Mainoo has reflected on what this season has been like for him.
When you’re not playing many games, or any games, you consider all things. But at the forefront of my mind was always to play for Manchester United and continue to play for this club that I’ve grown up at.
When there’s new managers, they have their way that they want to play and if they think you don’t fit that, then you don’t fit that. All I can do is try and work and train to maybe see it in a different light.
Going from playing nearly every game to not playing as often is always going to be a difficult adjustment. It was good for me in terms of learning [about] myself, the game, and patience. How to schedule my life and how I train and how I work and getting into routines.
It’s difficult when you don’t even come on as a sub of course. But I’d say my family and my friends helped me see the light at the end of the tunnel. They knew it would swing back my way at some point, so I just had to be patient.
