Ruben Amorim has admitted he expects Kobbie Mainoo to knock on his door and ask to leave Manchester United in January, with the manager also revealing for the first time his own plans to bring in new players during the winter window.
The 10-times capped England midfielder broke into the Manchester United side under the watchful guidance of Erik ten Hag, quickly becoming a fans’ favourite and having scored a decisive goal in their FA Cup final win over Manchester City in 2024.
Mainoo‘s fortunes, though, have declined rapidly since Amorim’s appointment by United a year ago to the day, with the midfielder struggling to find a place in the Portuguese’s rigid 3-4-2-1 formation.
And with his fortunes no better since seeing a summer exit request blocked, Amorim has now revealed that he is fully expecting the 20-year-old to seek a move away in January and with his World Cup place now in serious jeopardy.
With just 138 minutes of Premier League action, all off the bench, to his name, Amorim says the club’s failure to qualify for Europe this season is a major factor in the player’s struggles for game-time.
“We need to go to Europe. Because of everything our club needs to be in Europe,” Amorim said.
“Kobbie Mainoo, with the minutes he’s playing, needs more games for me to make a rotation. With one game, it’s really hard.”
Amorim is anticipating that Mainoo, along with other sparingly used stars, such as Joshua Zirkzee, will likely ask to leave in a quest to secure more regular football and with the 2026 World Cup on the horizon.
Amorim said: “A lot of things can happen, even in our club.
“And you know that we have the World Cup, some players are not playing, they will ask to leave.
“So I have to manage everything.
“And then we want to bring players, everyone here, we want to bring players that we can see a big future in Manchester United.
“We are not just buying one guy, because now we feel in December that we need this kind of player for now.
“No, it’s going to be we want to buy players that we know we are not going to change a lot of times. So that is our idea.
“So I don’t know what is going to happen, but of course, we think about how we can improve the team.
“And in January, the window is open, we can do something.”
Despite Amorim’s admission, sources have told our transfer correspondent, Fraser Fletcher, that United have no intentions of sanctioning Mainoo’s exit in January, even if that means killing his dreams of featuring at the 2026 World Cup finals….
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