Much was made on social media of Kobbie Mainoo's return to fitness for the game against Burnley, the first match since the sacking of Ruben Amorim. The young midfielder had been keen to leave the club on loan after the former manager indicated the only way for him to get playing time this season, in a World Cup year, was to displace our best player and captain, Bruno Fernandes.
I've seen Manchester United's young players over the last few years, I've seen a few of them leave the club and excel so I'm maybe not the right person to advise him, Neville said. My view would be that you should fight to stay at the club every single day of your life. Having that badge on your shirt is an absolute privilege and an honour, and you can never, in my view, have a bad day when you're wearing the Manchester United badge on your shirt.
Kobbie needs to fight for his job. I think that it's not a bad thing to be on the bench of Manchester United when you are 20-years-old. I remember Ronaldo was on the bench, Rooney was on the bench sometimes, Veron was not playing. I'm not trying to say to Kobbie, 'you are a big player here, let's put him on the bench to show something'. No, what I'm saying is the opposite. I'm just not putting Kobbie in sometimes because I understand that this is not the right guy to start the game. Maybe the next game, Sunday, he is going to start.
Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham have opened talks with 25-year-old Ghana winger Antoine Semenyo over a 65m move but must wrap up a deal with Bournemouth by 10 January to secure his services. (The i - subscription required), external Manchester United believe Semenyo could strengthen their left side with Amorim having doubts over Denmark international Patrick Dorgu, 21, who was signed for 25m in February from Leece. (Sun), external
Chelsea are reportedly ready to make a central midfielder a top transfer priority for 2026, with Crystal Palace's Adam Wharton and Manchester United's Kobbie Mainoo on their radar. As previously reported, Chelsea want to strengthen in midfield as one of their priorities to ease the workload on Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez. This has now been confirmed by a report in the Telegraph claiming that the Blues have been looking at both Wharton and Mainoo for that position.
