Manchester United legend Paul Scholes admits he would advise Kobbie Mainoo to leave the club for Chelsea, after hitting out at Ruben Amorim’s treatment of the midfielder.
Daily Mail Sport revealed last week that Mainoo is desperate to leave the club in January and press his claims for an England recall ahead of the World Cup.
Man United rejected his request to join Napoli on loan in the summer, but a dozen clubs from England, Italy, Spain and Germany are interested in a January deal.
Scholes last week branded Amorim’s claim that he considers Mainoo a starter as ‘bull****’ after the England midfielder was left on the bench in Thursday’s 1-1 draw with West Ham.
Mainoo’s only start this season was in the Carabao Cup defeat at Grimsby in August, all of of Premier League action coming in 10 appearances as a substitute.
Speaking on the The Good, The Bad & The Football, former Man United stars Scholes and Nicky Butt discussed Mainoo’s future at the club.
The pair, who were part of the Class of 92, insisted Mainoo needs to leave and both reluctantly admitted they viewed a potential move to Premier League rivals Chelsea as better for his career than staying at Man United.
‘Kobbie has got to go, if you take your Man United head off, I am going “We are getting you out of that football club, you don’t need to speak up, we will sort it out”,’ Butt said, who previously worked as Man United’s head of academy and head of first team development, before leaving in 2021.
‘For his football career he has to leave Man United. He has lost 18 months of development.
‘I hope he goes abroad, it is embarrassing if he goes to Chelsea. They might go and get him, as they are putting together a very good young squad. They keep buying young players and the right good young players.
‘You think he could quite easily end up at Chelsea next season.’
Scholes responded: ‘You would have to advise him to go. If he rang me and said “I think Chelsea are in for me what do you think”, I’d say “all day long”.’
He continued: ‘He is a 20 year old kid, he is going to have to leave. What will happen know is he’ll bring him into a game and he won’t be great, because he needs five, six, seven, eight games. He’ll throw him into the team and say “I told you so”.
‘No-one [in the hierarchy] gets the club. You think of the treatment of Kobbie Mainoo. He’s not playing, fair enough, sometimes as a manager you don’t fancy a player.
‘When they aren’t playing well and what he has done in the game already as a young kid, winning goal in the FA Cup final, he’s played nearly every game at the Euros, I bet he takes the p*** out of Casemiro every day in training.’
The Man United legend renewed his criticism of Amorim, after claiming last week that his side ‘can’t control a game of football’ after conceding late to draw 1-1 against West Ham at home.
Scholes insisted that Amorim is not the right man for Man United, suggesting his tactical approach does not fit the club and his lack of trust in Mainoo.
‘I don’t think the manager gets this club, full stop. I just don’t think he’s the right man,’ Scholes said.
‘Man United is about risk and entertainment more than anything, at home having fans on their seat f***ing ready to go, wingers who beat people, shots on goal. There is nothing there.
‘That’s from the club, we talk about how it is a different club. They’ve got Omar Berrada, Jason Wilcox, who are probably brilliant at what they do, but they are not Man United, they don’t have a clue what it is like to buy a Man United player and bring a Man United manager in.
‘If you go to Sporting Lisbon and watch, they play three at the back, right away that is a no as Man United never do that. You can’t do that, it has been proven over years and years. I am talking even before Sir Alex Ferguson. It was always about 4-4-1-1 or 4-4-2 and entertaining people.
‘He has not got that in him. That’s why I’m saying Jason Wilcox, Omar Berrada, they have probably gone out and watched Sporting Lisbon. How can they think that is a Man United manager?
‘He brought four defenders on against West Ham. If we go 1-0 up, the manager always said 2, 3, 4. He just doesn’t get it, I don’t think anyone at the club gets Man United.
‘You know when you see a Premier League team now, you can see what they are trying to do. I don’t know what Man United are trying to do, it is a mess.
‘I don’t see the patterns of play where they are going to open a team up.’
Amorim on Friday defended his treatment of Mainoo and insisted that he won’t be pressured into playing the unhappy midfielder if he doesn’t deserve a place in the team.
‘Of course, I understand,’ said Amorim. ‘My job is to answer, but I am trying to answer always the same thing – and you ask me always the same thing.
‘I understand what you are saying. You love Kobbie. He starts for England, but that doesn’t mean I need to put (in) Kobbie when I feel I shouldn’t put (in) Kobbie.
‘I don’t know what is going to happen. It depends. If I see in training it is the best thing, I will put it. That is the only way I know how to respond to that.’
Amorim has previously said that Mainoo is in direct competition with captain Bruno Fernandes for a place in midfield, with Casemiro and Manuel Ugarte the more defensive options to play alongside them.
