Midfielder was tipped to be the future of United but has not made a single appearance this season
Ruben Amorim says Kobbie Mainoo’s absence from Manchester United’s early line-ups is due to competition with captain Bruno Fernandes rather than concerns over fitness or form.
The 20-year-old midfielder has yet to feature this season, remaining on the bench for United’s 1-0 defeat to Arsenal and Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Fulham.
Mainoo broke through under Erik ten Hag and was tipped to be one of the next big things in the English game. He was called up to the England senior squad at only 19 years of age, starting in the Euro 2024 final against Spain.
But Amorim said the academy graduate will have to force his way past the ever-present Fernandes to secure minutes.
“He just needs to fight for the position with Bruno in training,” said United’s manager. “Like it should be at Manchester United.”
The manager also defended his decision to leave £74m striker Benjamin Sesko on the bench for the second successive game. The player has featured only as a substitute so far, making a brief debut against Arsenal before playing for just over 30 minutes at Craven Cottage.
Amorim said: “We tried to imagine what is going to happen during the game. Our team needs to be consistent in the way that we control the game and we need to have options to play a different game on the bench.
“Sesko has had two weeks for us. He is trying to understand everything. We need to wait a little bit to help the player. We just want to win the game and try to help all of our players.”
