Gary Neville comments prove why Kobbie Mainoo started for Manchester United vs Everton

Ahead of Manchester United's 3-0 triumph over Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday afternoon, it was easy to forget that Kobbie Mainoo had never actually started a Premier League game.

The 18-year-old's only previous top-flight experience had been handed to him at the end of United's 3-0 win over Leicester City at Old Trafford back in February. He replaced former loanee Marcel Sabitzer that afternoon, being sent on for the final 10 minutes.

But such has been the clamour for manager Erik ten Hag to throw him into his starting line-up in recent weeks, you would have been forgiven for thinking he was already a seasoned regular. Ahead of the trip to Merseyside, calls for him to be handed a start were getting louder and louder.

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By the time he was withdrawn after 72 minutes on United's last-ever league visit to Goodison, you could fully understand why. Deployed at the base of the engine room, the academy graduate produced a polished performance earning no shortage of plaudits, both from those of a United persuasion and others watching as neutrals.

Despite being handed his first-ever league start on an afternoon where the atmosphere was meant to intimidate and stop United from playing their A game, Mainoo was at the top of his game. Controlling proceedings in midfield, using the ball efficiently and cooly, he did not perform like a player who had only previously made three senior appearances for the club.

Instead, he produced a performance so impressive that it makes it almost impossible for Ten Hag to think about dropping him from his plans for Wednesday's crunch Champions