What Kobbie Mainoo did to Manchester United transfer target showed how special he is

Just over a year ago Kobbie Mainoo stood on the Wembley pitch in his Manchester United suit trying to take it all in. He had made just three first-team appearances at this point and hadn't made the squad for the Carabao Cup final triumph against Newcastle, but in amongst the celebrations after the game Erik ten Hag sought him out for a chat.

It was a telling moment. This was a then 17-year-old midfielder only on the very fringes of the senior squad, but as Ten Hag revelled in winning a first trophy as United manager, he went over to the Stockport-born academy graduate and shared a few words. The Dutchman has been taken with Mainoo's quality since the first time he saw him and maybe in that snatched conversation he was telling him there would be more days like this to come.

Neither would have expected it to come this quickly. Mainoo's 24th senior appearance was for England against Brazil and it was the first time he had played at Wembley. It has been a meteoric rise this season.

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Gareth Southgate described Mainoo's 15-minute cameo against Brazil as a "chance to dip his toes", having been called into the squad earlier in the week with Jordan Henderson struggling with an injury picked up while playing for Ajax. But as we've come to expect with Mainoo, he dived in head first rather than dip his toe in.

His first major contribution came just four minutes after he had come on. He was being pushed back towards his own goal, carrying the ball back into his own half under pressure from Wolves midfielder and reported United summer transfer target, Joao Gomes. What