Jainil Shah
Kobbie Mainoo invited to the senior dressing room at Manchester United
Kobbie Mainoo has been shining in Manchester United’s first-team midfield for months although he just officially graduated into the senior dressing room at Carrington.
It should come as a surprise to fans that the 18-year-old United academy graduate was not a part of Manchester United’s senior dressing room despite being one of the better performances in an underwhelming season at Old Trafford.
He has now played 13 times in the Premier League and twice in the Champions League this season.
Following his performance against Manchester City in the 3-1 defeat last weekend, Kobbie Mainoo was labelled as a “superhero” and potential star for England in the upcoming Euro 2024.
But the Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year award winner in 2023 still showered in the Under 21s dressing room according to a report by The Mail. His promotion into the senior dressing room was aided by the thumping exodus of 13 players in the January transfer window.
The report suggests that there is an established ‘pecking order’ at Manchester United’s training centre and with the departure of Donny van de Beek and Facundo Pellistri in January, the teenager was invited to the senior dressing room.
Fellow academy graduate Alejandro Garnacho has been gracing the senior dressing room for about a year, though the Argentine also had to wait for his invite for a while following his first-team debut in 2021/22. While Omari Forson and Habeeb Ogunneye, who have found themselves among the subs off late at Old Trafford, still shower and change in the under-21s and under-18s dressing rooms respectively.
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As Kobbie Mainoo changes in the senior dressing room, he now has to grind and make himself a regular at Manchester United and England for a prolonged period while he continues his development.
