As the Manchester United man received the ball with his back to a pair of onrushing midfielders, he found himself in a situation where less composed footballers would panic and risk a potentially game-changing mistake.
But not him.
Instead, he turns his two markers inside out with a silky smooth turn before driving up the pitch. After carrying the ball from inside his own half to just outside the opposition penalty area, he then has the awareness to pick out a clever ball to the wing.
To think, Manchester United spent so much of 2022 chasing Frenkie de Jong when they had Kobbie Mainoo at home all along.
“We couldn’t always get the players we wanted,” Ten Hag would tell Sky Sports when quizzed on United’s failure to tie up a potential £64 million deal for the Barcelona playmaker.
“It would’ve been De Jong and Casemiro playing and complementing each other.”
It’s all credit to Carrington, then, that Ten Hag can now count upon the precocious talents of a man who – in that one aforementioned barnstorming run through the heart of the Switzerland midfield – showcased so many of the qualities the Man United boss saw in De Jong, ‘embarrassing‘ his more experienced tea,-mates along the way.
Kobbie Mainoo translates Manchester United form for England
It’s only a shame that De Jong’s injury meant the continent were denied the chance to see Mainoo go head-to-head with one of the planet’s premiere playmakers during England’s 2-1 triumph over the Netherlands during the Euro 2024 semi-final.
Up against Tijjani Reijnders, Jerdy Schouten and Joey Veerman instead – Dutch boss Ronald Koeman bringing the latter off the bench in the first half seemingly in a failed attempt to quell Mainoo’s brilliance at source – the Manchester United whizzkid was as metronomic and masterful as ever.
Even Ten Hag, who obviously wanted his homeland to progress, had to accept that watching Mainoo emulate his Man United form on the international stage made for pretty glorious viewing.
“As much as I hoped Oranje would win, I enjoyed Kobbie Mainoo,” Ten Hag says, via The Mirror. “What a talent. Technically but also mentally.
“Kobbie is a great kid. I really thought he was one of the best players on the pitch against Holland. He was crucial in England’s dominance in the first half hour.”
Mainoo, remarkably, only made his England debut in March.
After feeling his way into the tournament – his first start coming against Slovakia in the round-of-16 – Mainoo is surely now all-but undroppable as far as Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate is concerned.
Add Comment