Kobbie Mainoo is Man United’s future again – and he has Michael Carrick to thank | OneFootball

The beginning of the end for one, a new beginning for another. Casemiro and Kobbie Mainoo were not Manchester United’s midfield double act for most of this season – not when Ruben Amorim would not start the latter in the Premier League – and will not be for the long term. Not when the Brazilian confirmed he will go when his contract expires at the end of the season.

But then, until Amorim’s sacking, it seemed that Mainoo may have been exiting earlier. There were reasons for him to leave on loan, with Napoli apparently interested. It represented a volte face, then, and perhaps a sign that Amorim recognised his time was almost up, when he suddenly described the Mancunian as the “future” of United.

And, for Michael Carrick, the immediate future. Carrick’s is a short-term task, to steer the ship until the end of the season, to guide United into the Champions League. If there was a change of direction at the start, it was both tactical and apparent in the result. A 2-0 demolition of Manchester City came with a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Bruno Fernandes deployed in his old role as a No 10, and Mainoo, deemed his understudy for the No 8 role by Amorim, alongside Casemiro.

They dovetailed well. Mainoo was misidentified as a defensive midfielder on his emergence. Rather, he is a passer who seems suited to accompanying one. It can seem logical that Carrick, another deep-lying distributor, would appreciate his qualities; he also borrowed from knowledge he acquired at the start of his coaching career.

When he returned to United, it was barely four years since left yet only a select few who played under him during his caretaker spell in 2021 – Fernandes, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and Diogo Dalot – remain, he had managed Mainoo at lower levels. It felt a flagship move to restore him to the team, a statement of intent.

“I’ve really enjoyed working with Kobbie, I’ve known him since he was younger,” said Carrick. “I think I started working with him when he was 13 or 14 years old, when I was going through my [coaching] badges myself.”

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Kobbie Mainoo excelled in a three-man midfield against Manchester City (Manchester United via Getty Imag)

If Amorim scarcely benefited some of the homegrown, whether Marcus Rashford or Mainoo, Carrick does see them as part of the United DNA.

“This club needs young players coming through and being the foundation, to understand what it means not just for the players or the squad, but for the club and for the supporters,” he added. “It’s something we need to grasp and keep building on and Kobbie is a prime example, coming through so quickly and having a rapid rise. To play in some unbelievably big games and impact those games at such a young age shows an awful lot of quality, in terms of the character and to be able to handle it.”

Mainoo’s emergence was so swift and the midfielder so precocious that he started the Euro 2024 final while still a teenager, and following a superb performance in the semi-final. If 2025 felt a wasted year for him, it felt an early sign 2026 can be better. But Carrick, relegated with West Ham at 21, can testify there can be setbacks. His own road, if winding, still took him to the top.

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Michael Carrick gives instructions in Man United training as Mainoo watches on (Manchester United via Getty Imag)

“Part of a career is a few ups and downs and sometimes it goes in different trajectories but we’ve seen last week what Kobbie can bring,” he said. “It was great. He’s quite straight-faced and he doesn’t give you an awful lot but you can see the way he played, he expressed himself, he was enjoying himself. To see him like that was great.”

If Carrick may have been talking about himself for a moment there – he can be calm and undemonstrative – there are other common denominators. Each can knit a game together. Neither is really an all-action midfielder.

But an ability to read a game may serve such players in good stead. Carrick’s time as head coach began with a meeting with another passing midfielder turned manager, in Pep Guardiola. Now he faces another, in Mikel Arteta.

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Mainoo will face off with Euro 2024 sidekick Declan Rice this weekend (Getty Images)

For Mainoo, a trip to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday is something of a reunion. His Euro 2024 sidekick, Declan Rice, will be in the Arsenal midfield. If Erik ten Hag had got his way, and when he seemed to think United’s budget was limitless, Rice would have come to Old Trafford. Instead, Arsenal signed him for £105m.

Arteta may have the most balanced midfield in England now, in Rice, Martin Odegaard and Martin Zubimendi. United’s was unbalanced in Ten Hag’s last 14 months in charge, often outnumbered in Amorim’s 14 months by his insistence on 3-4-3.

Now Carrick’s looks like being Mainoo and Casemiro, with Fernandes ahead of them. The midfield will not be the same next season, and the manager probably won’t be either. But an old United midfielder, in Carrick, may prove very good for a relatively new one, in Mainoo.