'Unbelievable' - What Roy Keane, Gary Neville and other Manchester United icons have said about Kobbie Mainoo this season

Kobbie Mainoo will be heading into Christmas with his head held high following an excellent few weeks after breaking into the Manchester United first-team.

Mainoo was destined to make the step up to Erik ten Hag's squad this season but suffered a cruel ankle injury over the summer. His return to fitness at the start of October brought with it plenty of optimism and the 18-year-old's fortunes have only improved since.

He was thrown in for a Premier League debut at Everton towards the end of November and was the standout player in a 3-0 win. Since then, the teenager has started away at Newcastle and Liverpool while coming off the bench during Champions League games against Galatasaray and Bayern Munich - all while remaining characteristically level-headed.

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Mainoo's performances have earned high praise from the footballing world, including some of the United greats he will have grown up watching. And MEN Sport has picked out a few of the best comments from the likes of Roy Keane, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes.

Speaking after Mainoo's performance at Everton, Keane said: "Unbelievable, I don't want to get too carried away but I'm sure we will. He looked like he always had time on the ball and decision-making - when to go long, when to go short. Off the ball as well, what an all-round performance.

"I know the club thinks highly of him. They'll look to the game today, coming to Everton, for the manager to put him in, he obviously must trust him.

"Listen, good luck to the kid. He was outstanding. It's a great start for him. Let's hope he stays injury-free and gets a run of games