Kobbie Mainoo has been out of the Manchester United team with injury since the beginning of February but is now back in training.
Ahead of our Europa League game against Lyon on Thursday night, Ruben Amorim spoke about his plans for the midfielder. He recognises he needs to be brought back gradually and that in the long-term there are things he can work on, as you would expect for a teenager.
In this moment, we have to be careful with Kobbie. He had some weeks out, so we have to be careful with his fitness. We are really happy to have more options and an option like Kobbie Mainoo, with the quality that he has… he can play in different positions, he has already played as a six, as an eight, as a 10. So we are really pleased to have Kobbie Mainoo, but we have to be careful, and we need Kobbie Mainoo fit and fresh.
We need to help him. We need to find a little bit, like Casemiro in this moment is playing better, because we are understanding better the way that Casemiro can play, and I think we can do that with Kobbie, because he has a lot of qualities. He’s really good on the ball. But he’s also really good near the opponent’s box, so we’ll try to manage all that, to try to find the right space for a player like Kobbie.
When I see Kobbie Mainoo, I see a lot of talent, but in the way I see – I could be wrong, that’s for sure – I see some things that Kobbie Mainoo has to improve. The space during the game, he has the qualities, like I said, in the build-up he needs to improve, and near the box he has a lot of talent, and that’s why I think he did a very good game in the Europa League in that position [against FCSB]. When I see Kobbie Mainoo, I see him not like a full player in the moment, because he’s 19. If I say to Kobbie ‘No, you are done, you are the final player’ I think I’m not helping Kobbie, that’s all.
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