EnglandBIOGRAPHY
Creatively outstanding Stockport-born midfielder who has progressed from FA Youth Cup winner to senior England international in less than two years.
Mainoo joined Travis Binnion’s Under-18s squad in 2021 and excelled throughout the season, showing off excellent vision and technical ability in the middle of the park. A graduate of Cheadle & Gatley junior football club, Mainoo scored twice in United’s run to the 2022 FA Youth Cup final, heading home at Old Trafford against Everton after a smart finish away at Reading in the fourth round. He then helped the team beat Nottingham Forest in the showpiece game as we lifted the trophy for the first time in a decade. After more sterling work for the Under-21s, he was named on the senior bench for the first time when United drew 0-0 with Newcastle on 16 October 2022. He scored in the friendly against Cadiz as part of the winter training camp and, at the tender age of 17, was thrust into the limelight when making his senior bow in the Carabao Cup quarter-final with Charlton Athletic in January 2023. The midfielder then made a substitute appearance in our 3-1 FA Cup win against Reading before being handed his Premier League debut off the bench against Leicester in February. Kobbie played well against Arsenal during the 2023 pre-season tour of the United States, but suffered a knee injury in the following friendly, versus Real Madrid, which would keep him out until November. He impressed in his long-awaited full top-flight debut, at Everton, and then established himself as part of Erik ten Hag’s starting line-up. The teenager scored his first United goal in the Emirates FA Cup victory at Newport County in January 2024 and soon followed that up with a dramatic, stoppage-time winner against Wolverhampton Wanderers, which was later named Premier League Goal of the Month. Mainoo was drafted into the senior England set-up for the first time in March 2024, and was awarded his maiden cap during the friendly with Brazil at Wembley. After a matchwinning performance in the FA Cup final, against Manchester City, he was selected for Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2024 squad, starting all four knockout matches as the Three Lions progressed to a major tournament final on foreign soil for the first time.
