Why a loan move to Napoli would make sense for Manchester United’s Kobbie Mainoo

Former Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay was just weeks away from the most notable achievement of his career when he spoke about where it all went wrong at Old Trafford.

“When I got into the first team, I was quite misprofiled in where I was playing,” the 28-year-old midfielder, who left United to join Napoli in August of last year, said in April. 

“It wasn’t the fault of any coaches. My strengths have always been getting into the box, scoring goals, being a problem in there. But I was being used as a No 6, or as a centre-back, and that has never really been my game. 

“But when you’re playing for Manchester United and you’re 20, you can’t knock on the manager’s door and say that you expect to be playing at No 8 ahead of Paul Pogba. It’s not realistic.”

It is not hard to imagine how those sentiments must have resonated with United midfielder Kobbie Mainoo, who finds himself in a near-identical predicament at the age of 20.

The sense of kinship can only have intensified when McTominay went on to convert a spectacular volley against Cagliari to help Napoli clinch the Serie A title on the final day of the league season. 

McTominay, who had been at United since the age of five, left Old Trafford with nothing more than a pair of domestic cup medals to show for more than two decades of service; within nine months, he had become an integral part of a championship-winning side.

Had his former team-mate established a blueprint Mainoo would be foolish not to follow? 

How Kobbie Mainoo has been marginalised under Ruben Amorim

To judge from his late-summer efforts to secure a loan move to the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Mainoo, who was the subject of interest from a number of clubs including Leeds, believed so.

Hailed by Paul Scholes last summer as “the nearest thing I’ve seen to [Zinedine] Zidane in taking a ball, receiving the ball, cruising past people”, Mainoo has found himself at the bottom of United’s midfield pecking order under Ruben Amorim.

The midfielder scored the winning goal in last year’s FA Cup final and went on to star for England as they advanced to the final of the European Championship. Since Amorim was appointed manager last November, however, Mainoo has started just 12 of the 32 league games for which he has been available. None of those appearances have come this season.

The midfielder’s only start so far was in United’s humiliating League Cup exit to Grimsby Town, and while Amorim has acknowledged Mainoo’s ability to control games, he has also raised doubts about the player’s positional sense, pace and work rate.

What Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim has said about Kobbie Mainoo

“Kobbie is really good at controlling the game, but if he plays as an eight he has to reach the box and return,” Amorim said in September, reflecting on Mainoo’s ability to fit into his preferred 3-4-2-1 system. “Sometimes he has to cover a lot of space with just two [central midfield players]. 

“He could play as a six, but sometimes he passes the ball and goes away, which is not a reference as a six. We have to balance everything. He has the technical ability, but he needs to understand the position better. He needs to play in different speeds – sometimes lower, sometimes faster. He can improve on that.”

With club captain Bruno Fernandes untouchable in Amorim’s set-up, those reservations have seen Mainoo eclipsed by the more utilitarian Manuel Ugarte and the ageing Brazilian midfielder Casemiro.

Should Kobbie Mainoo leave Manchester United for Napoli?

Mainoo’s fortunes appear unlikely to change during Amorim’s tenure and, with a World Cup on the horizon, a January loan move to Napoli, who have reportedly remained in close contact with his advisers, would hold obvious appeal.  

Familiarity often breeds content in football, particularly among young players, and the presence of former Old Trafford team-mates McTominay and Rasmus Hojlund in Naples, not to mention Premier League recruits Kevin De Bruyne and Billy Gilmour, would ease Mainoo’s assimilation into a new team, league and culture.

Mainoo would have a chance to learn from De Bruyne, one of the finest midfielders of his generation, while continuing his football education in a less hell-for-leather environment than the Premier League affords.

Moving to Napoli would also allow the Stockport-born player to develop his game away from the goldfish bowl of Manchester, with no guarantee that Amorim would still be in place at Old Trafford following the expiry of any loan period.

How Napoli are flying high under Antonio Conte

Mainoo would also join a club unencumbered by the sense of malaise that has enveloped Amorim’s United. Rather than struggling to nail down a place in a team labouring to live up to past glories, the midfielder would enter an environment where the mood is buoyant after capturing two league titles in three years.

Napoli are top of Serie A, competing in the Champions League and, in Antonio Conte, have an established and highly successful manager who has won titles wherever he has gone. 

It is an opportunity that Mainoo, who was prevented from leaving in the summer after Amorim insisted he should stay and fight for his place, can ill-afford to miss out on twice as he attempts to recalibrate the trajectory of his career.