Michael Carrick believes Kobbie Mainoo is a talented player Manchester United should ‘build around’ as he prepares to take over as interim manager at Old Trafford.
Carrick is likely to be appointed in the role until the end of the season within the next 24 hours, Daily Mail Sport understands, after Ruben Amorim was sacked last week.
The former England international will arrive with Manchester United in a troubling run of form, following three successive Premier League draws against Burnley, Leeds and Wolves and a defeat against Brighton in the FA Cup.
United fans are eagerly speculating how Carrick might line up during his interim spell in charge, after Amorim persisted with a flawed 3-4-2-1 formation and kept a handful of key players continually on the sidelines.
Mainoo, 20, has found himself out of favour with the Portuguese boss this season and has failed to register a single Premier League start so far, weighing up the possibility of an exit during the January transfer window in a bid for more game time.
But Carrick, who played at Old Trafford for 12 years during his playing career, believes Mainoo is the type of talent Manchester United should build around.
‘For a club to have a player that’s come through the academy and knows it, Man United’s got to have an element of that. Always has done, always should do,’ Carrick said in an interview with former team-mate Rio Ferdinand in September.
‘To have a talent like that, as he’s shown already, you’ve got to have players like that. They get it, they know it, let’s build around them. There’s definitely a place for him (Mainoo) there for sure.’
Asked by Ferdinand where he would play Mainoo in Manchester United’s team, Carrick said: ‘He’s more of an attacker. I don’t see him as a holding midfielder. He’s that line above where he needs a little bit more freedom.
‘He can defend the higher line but I think that bit deeper, around the centre-backs, that’s a bit of a different thing completely. I see him playing that little bit higher and creating. I think he’s got a massive future. I really like him, he just needs that patience and a little bit of a break again.’
Amorim’s stubbornness with his 3-4-2-1 formation meant previous key personnel under his predecessor Erik ten Hag became jettisoned, such as Marcus Rashford (on loan at Barcelona) and Alejandro Garnacho (sold to Chelsea for £40million).
Mainoo fell victim to that too, sliding down the pecking order with Bruno Fernandes preferred in a deeper midfield role instead.
Prior to Amorim’s dismissal, Carrick said that Mainoo, who broke on to the scene at Old Trafford and featured for England at the 2024 European Championship, needs to be patient and understand that frustrating spells on the sidelines is expected for young players.
‘I think that’s pretty normal (on why it hasn’t quite happened for him this season). I think as a young player, you go back to when you were coming through, if it was scrutinised as extreme as it is now, we would be nowhere near as good or we’d struggle,’ he told Ferdinand.
‘It’s a different world now and I think as a young player, in your first two, three, four years, it hits you and it doesn’t quite go to plan. But that doesn’t mean you don’t get there, if you keeps doing the right things and you’re talented. If you’ve got it, you’ve got it. And he’s shown that he’s got it.
‘He’s a breath of fresh air the way he takes the ball, goes forward and commits people, can dribble, can pass. That doesn’t leave you and I think it’s waves – it can come and go.
‘You’ve got to stick at it. It can be tough at times but you need people to stick with you and believe in you. I think we’re quite quick, from season to season or month to month, to say “He’s good enough” or “He’s not good enough”. We were given a lot more time and it was a bit more spread out.’
From what he told Ferdinand in September, Carrick will do his best to fit both Mainoo and Fernandes in Manchester United’s midfield.
The ex-England star, 44, waxed lyrical about Fernandes’ impact on the team, lauding him as a role model who sets an excellent example in training and steps up in big moments on the pitch.
Carrick said: ‘I like Bruno, I worked with him with Ole (Gunnar Solskjaer) and he’s desperate to do well. And that’s a really positive thing but sometimes he can overdo it. But his attitude, he plays every game, he never misses training, he’s there all the time, puts himself out there, puts himself forward, and he’s been the talisman for sometime.
‘When there’s something that’s needed, Bruno is the man that steps up. I really enjoyed working with him, he’s demanding, he asks questions, he wants to do the right thing.
‘He took it in pretty quickly (the size of the club). He understood. It’s amazing you get a feel like that for certain players. I think there’s that expectation with United, it’s not just that bit of football on the pitch. There’s a whole other world out there, a responsibility. Bruno’s the type who embraced all that.’
