Though a first year who made his Under-18s
debut at just 15, he was ever-present throughout
the successful cup run, and had only just stepped
up to the Under-21s when, later in 2022, he joined
up with Erik ten Hag’s squad for a winter training
camp in Spain. During that trip, designed to
sharpen squad members who weren’t on duty
at the World Cup, Mainoo scored in a draw
with Cadiz and caught the eye sufficiently to
be seriously considered for the senior squad.
A first start – in the Carabao Cup win over Charlton
in January 2023 – marked the commencement of a
senior career which yielded a Premier League bow
against Leicester City the following month, then
a first top-flight start at Everton in late November.
As the Merseysiders found that afternoon, United’s
youngsters could pack a punch. Alejandro Garnacho’s
overhead opener took the headlines, but Mainoo’s
serene influence at the base of midfield won him the
club’s official Man-of-the-Match award. Three days
later came a Champions League bow at Galatasaray, followed by starts at Newcastle and Liverpool,
plus a cameo against Bayern Munich, with
United’s no.37 unflustered throughout.
Mainoo’s seamless transition into seniority
makes him the latest poster boy for United’s
Academy upbringing – though Cox is keen
to share the credit around. “Our job along
their journey has been to show them some
experiences that stretch them and maybe make
them uncomfortable,” he says. “You can’t do
that all the time, because you want them to
also be able to express themselves, but if we
can keep nudging them into environments
that scare them just a little bit, and you do that
repeatedly over years, when you get to the first
team, then they’ve had relevant experience.
“For example, Kobbie had already scored
a winning goal at Molineux for the Under-21s.
Albeit it was in a shoot-out, but it was the winning
penalty, so he’d already done it. We try to show
them things they recognise later. The crowd
wasn’t as big, the game wasn’t as pressurised,
but he was still able to turn up to Molineux having
been there before and scored the decisive
goal. He’d literally been there and done it.
“The fans play a huge part too,” continues
Cox. “The FA Youth Cup final, with over 60,000
supporters at Old Trafford, was an amazing
experience for everyone involved. What our
fanbase did that night was not only help us
to win; they actually created a development
environment – a backdrop which stretched the
boys and put them under pressure, and that
kind of experience gave Kobbie an extra chance
of coping at Goodison or Anfield or in Istanbul.
They played their part in his development.”
