Kobbie Mainoo is learning about the pitfalls of fame. “When I try to go to the corner store, I get a little more attention,” said the emerging TV star. Manchester Unitedseason. And if there was something wonderfully realistic about the image, there is also the likelihood that Mainoo may not be spending much time at the corner store very often in the future. He is most likely to be seen in the United and England midfields.
For now, at any rate, he has not experienced the downsides of his sudden celebrity, although his hometown of Stockport is City of Manchester territory. “As a kid everyone around me was a City fan, few of us had to struggle as United fans,” Mainoo recalled.
Maybe one FA Cup the final will be a clash between Stockport’s finest, Phil Foden, against Mainoo. If United are outnumbered in their hometown, perhaps the friendly reception they receive there is due to moving nature of your ascension, the old-fashioned idea of a nice local advancement. “People ask for photos,” he said. “It’s cool. I mean, I grew up here, so taking pictures is the least I can do. I remember being a kid and wanting pictures with players when I was younger.”
He wanted selfies with his favorite footballers – like Wayne Rooney, Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford – when he was younger. Now he has the opportunity to get them daily from another Mancunian. “Playing with some of these players is crazy,” Mainoo said. At 26, Rashford is hardly a veteran, but it’s worth noting that when he debuted for United, Mainoo was just 10 years old.
He is so young that when he leaves for United at Wembley on Saturday he will be aiming to win just the second FA Cup of his life. He remembers 2016, Alan Pardew dancing as Crystal Palace took the lead and another United academy product, Jesse Lingard, scoring the winner in extra time.
But he had never been to Wembley until last season’s Carabao Cup final. Erik ten Witch has not always felt like a prophetic figure in a year that has damaged his reputation and could mean that, like his Dutch compatriot Louis van Gaal, he will be sacked after the FA Cup final. But when United beat Newcastle at Wembley last season, he went to 17-year-old Mainoo and told him he could be part of these scenes the following year.
“It’s been a season of ups and downs, but to end it with another final is still a dream come true for a childhood fan of the club,” Mainoo reflected. The midfielder’s progress was initially slow, but then remarkably rapid. He may have started the campaign with the team, barring an ankle injury suffered against Real Madrid in pre-season. If Mainoo gave the impression of learning quickly, he used his time to try to educate himself further. “I started Spanish classes on Zoom just to pass the time,” he said. He says “un poco… now that it’s summer I’m going to try to get back to it because I liked it”.
However, the language that Mainoo may require this summer is German and not Spanish. He was appointed in England’s 33-player training squad for Euro 2024. It seems a safe bet that he will make the 26-man squad for the final. However, his first game for United only came in November. “At that time, I didn’t even think about England,” he said.
Now he is in the England squad, while Rashford is not. He scored a stoppage-time winner at Wolves, scored a high-class first goal at Old Trafford against Liverpool, and was compared to Champions League winner Clarence Seedorf.
He is part of a trio that offers United hope of a better future. Alejandro Garnacho is nine months older and Rasmus Hojlund is another 17 months older. Born in 2003, 2004 and 2005, United’s youth triumvirate is made up of friends, the faces of the next generation. The highlight was a celebration: the Argentine sitting on the Old Trafford advertising hoardings after scoring against West Ham in February, the Dane and the Englishman joining him.
“I always ask Garna before the game what the celebration will be like if he scores,” Mainoo said. “And he said, ‘I’m not telling you, I’m not telling you.’ So I say, ‘Okay.’ I saw him jump on the advertising board when he scored and me and Rasmus jumped there with him.”
Instead of the photos he dreamed of taking with Rooney and Pogba, he was part of a symbolic photo with two new United heroes. For the boy on the corner trying to help United get through the situation, the last six months have changed his life. “It happened so quickly,” he said.
