Kobbie Mainoo should push for Man United exit, says Paul Parker

Paul Parker believes Kobbie Mainoo should push to leave Old Trafford as he has no long-term future under Ruben Amorim – and the former Manchester United defender has a specific destination in mind for the youngster.

Mainoo is yet to start a Premier League match this season, with his solitary appearance from the first whistle coming in the humiliating defeat to Grimsby Town in the Carabao Cup.

The 20-year-old midfielder has been limited to just 183 minutes of football in the league, across 15 games – a reflection of his place, or lack thereof, in Amorim’s plans.

By comparison, Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro have 1342 and 936. Even Manuel Ugarte – a player openly criticised by the Portuguese coach in a team meeting – has nearly double his English teammate, with 314 minutes, despite possessing half of Mainoo’s talent.

Amorim has explained that Mainoo is in competition with Fernandes, club captain and the team’s talisman, for the number eight role in his 3-4-2-1 system – a fight with only one winner, made worse by the indefatigable nature of the Portugal international.

Mainoo had previously asked to leave United at the end of the summer window on loan. But this request was rejected with the academy graduate told he remained an important member of the squad, and his opportunities would come.

Four months on, this prediction is yet to bear fruit, and with the January window set to open in three weeks, he is expected to push once again for an exit, albeit temporarily.

Speaking exclusively to The Peoples Person on behalf of gambling portal British Gambler, Parker expressed sympathy to Mainoo’s frustrations, believing the youngster is right to look elsewhere if he’s not getting a look in at Old Trafford.

“I think Mainoo needs [to leave on loan], and the club should be respectful of that. He is going to be a great player. He needs games, he needs to be somewhere where someone wants him – and who will help his football education as well.

“To sit around and constantly have everyone talking about him all the time, before every game when he’s [on the bench]. And then when he does get on, I just wonder how long it’s going to take before all of a sudden, when he does come on, he’s going to show how disgruntled he is, about the way it’s going [under Amorim]. It isn’t going to be about a bad attitude – that would be the wrong word – it would be about human nature.

“The kid has not got a bad attitude, he’s just a frustrated boy who won an FA Cup final for his boyhood team, and then he goes away with England as a squad player, but ends up becoming a prominent player at the Euros. Then all of a sudden, it’s ‘what’s happened, what have I done wrong?'”

When asked where Mainoo should cast his eye beyond Manchester, Parker urges the England international to “go overseas”, with Germany suggested as an ideal landing spot.

“Get a different scope, go experience different styles of play. In my opinion, that might just suit him better. Every game he plays in the Premier League, he will be under pressure. Go and play in the Bundesliga,” Parker states – a league he believes is easier for players arriving from England to thrive in, given the attacking freedom and space afforded to them.

Should Mainoo seal a loan move in January, however, it will only provide temporary refuge, with Parker pessimistic about the situation he will find upon his return to Old Trafford come the summer.

Asked if the midfielder has a long-term future with United with Amorim remaining at the helm, the 61-year-old states: “At this moment in time, the only answer can be no, because Amorim is not even giving [Mainoo] the opportunity. If the manager was to give him the two or three games, then he would get a few questions answered – for himself and everyone else.

“But [substituting] him on all the time is what the manager is doing, it doesn’t give anyone a chance. You throw someone on, like a centre-forward who is not playing regularly, and he doesn’t score, what is he going to feel? First thing he’s going to do is want to score, and then he could overplay, be greedy, trying desperately to do too much.

“Or you can go out and be unselfish, which can lead you to not taking things on, as you don’t want to make a mistake, because you want to be Mr Nice – you don’t want to be selfish. Mainoo needs to be there from day dot [the first whistle] to try and create a pattern of play and tempo for himself. Coming on as a sub is always difficult.”

And it’s a difficulty Mainoo will find almost impossible to escape in a red shirt with a head coach at the Theatre of Dreams who is turning his United career into a nightmare.

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