Man Utd: Mainoo transfer ‘progress’ revealed as Scholes tells him to leave for Chelsea

Serie A side Napoli are making ‘progress’ towards the January signing of Man Utd midfielder Kobbie Mainoo, according to reports.

The England international has not started in the Premier League for Man Utd this term with Ruben Amorim preferring other players in midfield.

Mainoo, who has been linked with a loan move to Napoli, has made nine appearances off the substitutes’ bench but his only start in all competitions came as Man Utd were knocked out of the League Cup on penalties by Grimsby Town earlier this year.

Amorim announced publicly that Mainoo would be competing with captain Bruno Fernandes for a starting berth this season, leading to the Man Utd midfielder looking for a way out before the summer transfer deadline.

However, Man Utd director of football Jason Wilcox managed to persuade Mainoo to fight for his place in Amorim’s side.

Red Devils legends Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt reckons Mainoo has got to leave the club in the January transfer window for the good of his career progression.

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Butt said on The Good, The Bad & The Football: “Kobbie has got to go, if you take your Man United head off, I am going ‘We are getting you out of that football club, you don’t need to speak up, we will sort it out.’

“For his football career he has to leave Man United. He has lost 18 months of development.

“I hope he goes abroad, it is embarrassing if he goes to Chelsea. They might go and get him, as they are putting together a very good young squad. They keep buying young players and the right good young players.

“You think he could quite easily end up at Chelsea next season.”

Scholes responded: “You would have to advise him to go. If he rang me and said ‘I think Chelsea are in for me what do you think’, I’d say ‘all day long’.”

He added: “He is a 20 year old kid, he is going to have to leave. What will happen know is he’ll bring him into a game and he won’t be great, because he needs five, six, seven, eight games. He’ll throw him into the team and say ‘I told you so’.

“No-one [in the hierarchy] gets the club. You think of the treatment of Kobbie Mainoo. He’s not playing, fair enough, sometimes as a manager you don’t fancy a player.

“When they aren’t playing well and what he has done in the game already as a young kid, winning goal in the FA Cup final, he’s played nearly every game at the Euros, I bet he takes the p*** out of Casemiro every day in training.”

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And now Arena Napoli claim that ‘progress’ has been made with Mainoo from the Serie A side over a potential January deal with the website also bringing an update from Sky Sport journalist Luca Marchetti.

On the current state of negotiations over the Man Utd midfielder, Marchetti said: “Regarding the midfielder, Napoli is considering the timing of Anguissa’s return, before taking action. They’ll try to make changes in midfield, as Manna recently reiterated. As for the various deals, they’ll need to figure out what exits there will be: for roster reasons or purely financial reasons.

‘Napoli needs to figure out how to proceed quickly, because they need reinforcements numerically. If they were to sign someone at the end of the transfer window, then they’d be closer to Anguissa’s return, and the matter would be less urgent. If you want someone on January 2nd, you have to move now. This also applies to the Englishman.”

As well as his comments on Mainoo, Scholes added that he doesn’t think Man Utd boss Amorim “gets” the club, he said: “I don’t think the manager gets this club, full stop. I just don’t think he’s the right man.

“Man United is about risk and entertainment more than anything, at home having fans on their seat f***ing ready to go, wingers who beat people, shots on goal. There is nothing there.

“That’s from the club, we talk about how it is a different club. They’ve got Omar Berrada, Jason Wilcox, who are probably brilliant at what they do, but they are not Man United, they don’t have a clue what it is like to buy a Man United player and bring a Man United manager in.

“If you go to Sporting Lisbon and watch, they play three at the back, right away that is a no as Man United never do that. You can’t do that, it has been proven over years and years. I am talking even before Sir Alex Ferguson. It was always about 4-4-1-1 or 4-4-2 and entertaining people.

“He has not got that in him. That’s why I’m saying Jason Wilcox, Omar Berrada, they have probably gone out and watched Sporting Lisbon. How can they think that is a Man United manager?

“He brought four defenders on against West Ham. If we go 1-0 up, the manager always said 2, 3, 4. He just doesn’t get it, I don’t think anyone at the club gets Man United.

“You know when you see a Premier League team now, you can see what they are trying to do. I don’t know what Man United are trying to do, it is a mess.

I don’t see the patterns of play where they are going to open a team up.”