If this is the way the Manchester United man performs on only his third competitive international appearance, imagine what he’ll be doing when he’s got five or ten years worth of experience under his belt.
Kobbie Mainoo was not only the youngest player on the pitch for his national team. He was also, by majority verdict, just about the best too. Not that there was too much competition, of course.
England were once again directionless and drab against Slovakia, needing a last-gasp Jude Bellingham overhead kick to even take the last-16 tie to extra time.
But if Bellingham is just about the first name on Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions team sheet, then Manchester United’s Kobbie Mainoo cannot be too far behind.
Manchester United’s Kobbie Mainoo is England’s key man
Against Slovakia, his first start of Euro 2024, the teenager put his far more experienced team-mates to shame with a performance of trademark poise and maturity.
While Trent Alexander-Arnold looks very much like a square peg in a round hole at the heart of England’s midfield and Connor Gallagher offers plenty of perspiration but little inspiration, Mainoo appears to fall right in the middle of that Venn diagram when discussing the ideal foil for Arsenal’s Declan Rice.
Rice, by the way, is a paid-up member of the Mainoo fan club himself.
Danny Murphy, who’s tally of nine England caps will soon be overtaken by 19-year-old Mainoo, feels that the Carrington graduate may have jotted his name in magic marker on Southgate’s first XI for the remainder of the tournament.
“Since he has come in, he has done so well,” Murphy tells talkSPORT (5 July, 10am) ahead of England’s quarter-final clash with a well-drilled Switzerland side on Saturday. “He looks so calm, looks so comfortable in this arena for a man so young.
“So I think Mainoo will be starting (vs the Swiss).”
This has certainly been a whirlwind 12 months for Mainoo.
In the last year, the Stockport-born schemer has made his Premier League debut, scored his first Premier League goal, netted a stunner against Liverpool, the winner in the FA Cup final, and made himself pretty much undroppable for his beloved Man United.
And you’d never guess, given the way Mainoo strolls around the pitch unflustered and unhurried, that he only donned this heaviest of England shirts for the first time as recently as March.
Ferdinand and Keane rave about FA Cup hero
United legend RIo Ferdinand even threatened – presumably jokingly – that he would happily hike all the way back from Germany if Mainoo is left out of Southgate’s team tomorrow.
Another Old Trafford hero of yesteryear, meanwhile, believes that Mainoo is maybe a decade ahead of where he was at the same age. At least, in some departments.
“You see the stuff he is doing… I played in that position, but he’s doing stuff that probably took me ten years to learn,” the former United skipper Roy Keane said on ITV Sport after that Slovakia escape.
“He’s obviously had a great foundation at Man United and he’s getting into good habits. But we’ve seen in these big games (he can perform). And when you’re playing for Man United, every game is a big game for Man United.
“So he’ll cope with all that.”
