Manchester United might have a £100m player on their hands – and they know it Kobbie Mainoo is back thriving at Man Utd and barely six weeks after his future was in doubt he is now set to be offered a long-term contract.

It is set to be the year of the midfield at Manchester United. If 2025 was all about revamping the attack, the focus this summer is going to fall on the centre of the pitch. United will target two new midfielders this summer, with one tasked with replacing Casemiro, who will leave at the end of the season when his contract expires.

Manuel Ugarte is also likely to move on and there is every chance the midfield options available to whoever the head coach is at the start of the 2026/27 season will look a lot different to now.

But six weeks ago, there was a fear that the entire midfield might need to be rebuilt. Bruno Fernandes had thrust his own future back into the news and Kobbie Mainoo’s chances of playing under Ruben Amorim looked as distant as ever.

Fernandes now looks happy and settled again and Champions League football would surely convince the club captain to stay on, while no player has had a bigger transformation under Michael Carrick than Mainoo.

The academy graduate is not only back in the team, but looking like the player who enjoyed a spectacular breakthrough in the second half of the 2023/24 season. For all the talk of United signing a £100million midfielder this summer, Mainoo’s recent form is a reminder they might already have one on their hands. He was the best player on the pitch in Saturday’s win against Tottenham.

“There’s definitely more to come from him, and that’s just the age he’s at, the stage he’s at in his career. He’s just starting out, essentially,” Carrick said after watching Mainoo run the show.

“He’s got so much experience under his belt of big occasions, big games, and pressurised situations. That’s going to help him develop and playing next to Case, and learning off him, things that he’s probably not even realising he’s picking up, just playing next to him as well as the other players around him.

“I think that’s just part of his journey to learn and develop. As I said, I’m really conscious that he’s come in, he’s played the four games, and he’s found his rhythm. Young players will have times when they’re up, and then they might have a little dip, that’s not all of a sudden, he’s good, or he’s a poor player. Kobbie is what he is.

“Managing that’s really important, especially for younger players, and understanding that. So he’s done fantastic at the moment. He’s having a really big impact on games and we’ll keep working with him and helping him, try and keep improving him as well as we go.”

The irony of that is that Mainoo is actually one of the lowest-paid players in the squad, as he is still on the contract he signed as a 17-year-old in February 2023. His return to the starting XI has again triggered bonuses, but that still leaves him short of many of his teammates.

Now that he is back in the fold, there is a desire to fix that. United never had any intention of letting their prized academy graduate leave and now they will show him how much he is valued by opening talks over a new deal, with the hope they can be concluded by the end of the season.

That would be a significant boost ahead of the summer. On this form, Mainoo is one of the first names on the teamsheet, and with Fernandes as the starting No.10, there is only one spot left to fill in the strongest team. It is easy to imagine someone like Elliot Anderson coming in and finishing off that midfield trio.

Whatever business United end up doing this summer, securing a new contract for Mainoo might be the best of it. He is the poster boy for the academy in recent years, as well as a brilliant footballer when shown the faith that Carrick has given him in recent weeks.

He is also only 20 and there is clearly more to come, as Carrick explained on Saturday. This is a player who started the European Championship final at 18, and he should be part of United’s midfield for years to come. Giving him a contract that reflects that status is now crucial.

Mainoo has just over a year left on his existing deal, with the option of another 12 months, but United know he needs a new contract. If that is signed and sealed before the summer, then it will be one significant piece of business completed before the window opens.