Ruben Amorim says there is no problem with Kobbie Mainoo after his half-brother’s t-shirt stunt and hopes the Manchester United midfielder fights for his future at a club battling a wider sense of “entitlement”.
The homegrown 20-year-old talent has gone from FA Cup hero and starting the Euro 2024 final for England to a bench player over the last 18 months.
Mainoo saw a request to leave on loan rejected in August and is still waiting for his first Premier League start of the campaign, leading to speculation he could depart United in the January transfer window.
The midfielder came off the bench in Monday’s 4-4 draw with Bournemouth at Old Trafford, where his half-brother Jordan Mainoo-Hames wore a ‘Free Kobbie Mainoo’ top and later posted about it on social media.
Asked if he has spoken to Mainoo about the incident, boss Amorim laughed and then said: “No, it was not Kobbie that wore the t-shirt.
“He is not going to start because of the t-shirt, but he is not going to the bench because of the t-shirt. He is going to play if we feel that he is the right guy to play. That is not an issue.
“I am used to (it). I am here for a year. It’s not new, so we have to deal with that, but I am not going to do something to Kobbie because someone in his family is doing something.”
Amorim says his “office is always open” to Mainoo and others, but says no player has been to see him in the build-up to Sunday’s trip to in-form Aston Villa.
The United boss would seemingly like the midfielder to come and talk to him at a time when club greats like Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Rio Ferdinand are suggesting he should leave.
Amorim would also like younger players to speak to him if they have issues rather than take to social media like teenagers Harry Amass and Chido Obi did this week.
The 18-year-olds both uploaded and subsequently deleted Instagram story posts having seemingly taken umbrage with the manager’s recent comments.
“I think it’s a little bit the feeling of entitlement that we have in our club and sometimes strong words is not bad words,” Amorim said. “Sometimes difficult moments is not a bad thing for the kids.
“We don’t always need to be with accolades in everything, in every situation. We are not helping.
“That’s why you guys talk about a lot of players nowadays that they speak and they go against the clubs, and everything happened because they feel entitlement.
“And then you have legends of the club saying that ‘if you don’t play, leave because everyone is wrong’.
“No, let’s think about ‘let’s stay, let’s fight, let’s overcome, maybe the manager is wrong’, so I have that feeling all the time that we need to fight against this feeling.”
Impassioned Amorim continued: “It’s the environment, it’s the moment of the players, the kids. They feel entitled, they feel free to respond the manager with a picture.
“My office is open. Nobody is coming to talk to me, and that is the way we can solve things, so I think we need to change first as a club, and then everything is going to change.”
Amorim’s frustration was palpable during a press conference that included questions about Bruno Fernandes’ latest comments on top of the aforementioned players.
“It continues a little bit everything on my desk,” he said. “Every problem in our football club, it is still me that has to deal with that, but this will take time.”
