Man Utd need £150m far more than they need Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho
Kobbie Mainoo is not a generational talent and Man Utd should take the money for both him and Alejandro Garnacho if it is offered in the summer.
The ever-thirsty Mark Goldbridge has deemed it “ridiculous” that Kobbie Mainoo has asked Manchester United for wages of £180,000 a week, but in truth it would be ridiculous if the England midfielder’s agent had not pointed at Casemiro and mouthed the words ‘is my man not worth half of that?’. United are perhaps lucky Mainoo has not asked for more than parity with Harry Maguire.
But does that mean United should not sell Mainoo? Does that mean he should be deemed unsellable or untouchable? Quite apart from the fact that in these PSR-influenced times, no player should be deemed unsellable (even Arsenal would not dismiss a £200m bid for Bukayo Saka), Mainoo is not a generational talent; being among the finest players to emerge from the Manchester United Academy over the last five years says more about their broken system than his brilliance.
Mainoo is not an elite central midfielder – we saw as much in the Euro 2024 final – as he lacks the discipline, composure and physicality for the role. Perhaps that will come – he is still only 19 – but Ruben Amorim rightfully has no trust in him as part of a double pivot. He pointedly said Mainoo was “struggling a lot defending” before moving him further forward to flourish in a more advanced role against poor opposition in the Europa League.
But back on home soil, he struggled as a striker against Crystal Palace and then against Leicester in the FA Cup as one of the No. 10s. None of the roles in Amorim’s preferred system particularly suit Mainoo. He is an undisciplined, ball-carrying midfielder and if Chelsea or any other club wants to meet United’s supposed asking price of £70-80m (pure profit) for an undisciplined, ball-carrying midfielder, dismissing that offer would be far more ridiculous than any wage demands.
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We are repeatedly told that Manchester United need to sell before they can buy this summer, and this is not a squad awash with valuable assets. United are actually lucky that three of their most sellable players are also Academy products. And by coincidence, none are stalwarts in Amorim’s first-choice line-up. Put like that, taking £70-80m for Mainoo, similar for Alejandro Garnacho and another £40m for Marcus Rashford, feels like a no-brainer.
The only argument against the sales of Mainoo and Garnacho – apart from misty-eyed talk of once again building around Academy players, one of whom is a Madrid-born Argentine international – is fear of them thriving elsewhere. But that’s just not how more recently successful clubs operate, with Manchester City taking money for Cole Palmer and Liam Delap, and Chelsea accepting Atletico Madrid cash for Conor Gallagher.
Garnacho could thrive in a system that needs a chalk-hugging winger who cannot finish his dinner and Mainoo may well blossom alongside a genuine defensive midfielder ahead of a solid back four that needs little protection, but clinging on to ill-suited players because fear of their success outweighs your own fear of failure is ludicrous.
Having said there was only one argument against selling the pair for sizeable fees, there is an enormous elephant in the room. Would you trust this version of Manchester United to sensibly spend a potential £150m? A ranking of their incomings post-Fergie is a largely miserable list of wasted money, potential or both.
Liverpool rebuilt their entire midfield – the foundations for a very likely Premier League title – for less than £150m but would you trust Manchester United to spend even half as wisely? Or spend at all in light of money saved by soup and vouchers?
But the truth is that unless United spin that wheel, they will start next season with this same squad of players ill-suited to both Amorim’s system and the upper reaches of the Premier League. And that really would be ridiculous.
