Gareth Southgate must have been impressed when he took up a seat in the Villa Park directors' box and watched a teenage midfielder turn in another bravura performance. It's a quirk of Kobbie Mainoo's stylish ascent at Manchester United that his best performances have actually come on opposition territory, rather than at Old Trafford, which says plenty about his character.
Mainoo's performances have him on Southgate's radar, despite only making his full Premier League debut in November, and it's not hard to see why. For starters, Ghana remain interested in trying to convince him to play for them, although a future with the Three Lions now looks assured. The Stockport-born midfielder has also displayed his full range of skills in his 22 appearances.
He has an excellent passing range but is also remarkably calm on the ball. The way he took his winning goal at Wolves earlier this year, in a game that had turned chaotic, was superb, and he regularly found a way to dribble away from pressure in the win at Luton.
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So when Southgate unveils his squad for the March friendlies with Belgium and Brazil later this week, most people will quickly scan the list of midfielders to see if Mainoo's name is there. It wouldn't be a great surprise if it was.
But the feeling remains a step up to the Under-21s first is the most likely path at this stage. It's a matter of time before Mainoo joins a growing list of talented young midfielders in the senior set-up, with Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice and maybe Trent Alexander-Arnold at the forefront. A promotion after just 15 Premier
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