Gary Lineker has joked that Kobbie Mainoo should consider ‘suing’ Ruben Amorim for ‘taking a year out of his career’ when the Portuguese was in charge of Manchester United.
Mainoo found himself effectively frozen out of United’s starting XI, with Amorim pitting United’s 20-year-old academy star against club captain Bruno Fernandes.
All 14 of Mainoo’s Premier League games this season under Amorim had been substitute appearances – and there was even talk of the midfielder leaving Old Trafford ahead of the January transfer window.
But Mainoo has experienced a dramatic turnaround since Michael Carrick took over the reins last month, starting and impressing in all four of the Red Devils’ wins against Manchester City, Arsenal, Fulham and Tottenham.
United’s remarkable 100 per cent record under Carrick has seen the club rise into the top four and just three points off third-placed Aston Villa.
‘Do you know what? If I was Kobbie Mainoo – and I say this in jest – I’d be thinking about whether I should sue him [Amorim] or not,’ ex-England striker Lineker said on The Rest Is Football podcast following United’s latest victory over Spurs.
‘He’s taken a year out of that kid’s career. This kid is a wonderful footballer.
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‘God, he makes it look so easy. He wants the ball, he receives it with anyone around him and he turns, always makes the right decisions, he’s graceful.
‘I mean, come on! He’s been absolutely detrimental to his career.’
Lineker is confident Mainoo will be selected in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the World Cup should he continue on the same trajectory under Carrick.
‘If he doesn’t make the World Cup squad… and I sense he probably will if he can stay fit and if he keeps playing because he’s just a seriously good footballer,’ the former Match of the Day host added.
‘I know his brother got in a bit of trouble for saying on the T-shirt, “Free Kobbie”, but he has absolutely got a point, his brother. What was he [Amorim] thinking?!’
Lineker is ‘baffled’ by the way Amorim handled ‘arguably England’s best player’ at Euro 2024 during his time in the hot seat at the Theatre of Dreams.
‘I say this [that Mainoo should sue Amorim] in jest, obviously, but I mean, come on!’ he went on.
‘It’s so, so baffling that he couldn’t see how good that young man is.
‘I thought to myself, “Has something happened? Has he got above his station?”, but he’s come back in and you think, “No”, and he’s exactly what he was before which was, when you think about, arguably England’s best player in the Euros.’
While Lineker expects there to be ‘tougher times’ ahead for Carrick, he pointed out how the ex-England midfielder has got United ‘looking like a team’ once again.
‘People will jump on and say, “Yeah, but it might just be a quick bounce”, but I don’t see that,’ he explained.
‘You look at them now and they look like a team.
‘Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, really good signings, settled in really well. Senne Lammens in good, it looks like they’ve got a really, really promising young goalkeeper there.
‘They’ve brought back Harry Maguire, who is stable and really good in both boxes, and he’s playing Bruno Fernandes further forward.
‘It’s a clever little system, very good how he’s worked it Carrick.
‘Everything is coming off at the moment. There will be tougher times, obviously.’
Alan Shearer feels similarly about Amorim’s treatment of Mainoo and believes the Portuguese will be ‘cringing’ at how Carrick has managed to turn the side’s fortunes around so quickly.
‘How embarrassing does it look for Ruben Amorim at the minute? It’s unbelievable,’ Shearer – the Premier League’s all-time top scorer – said.
‘That [leaving Mainoo out] isn’t the only one. I mean the system… goodness me, the system that he refused to go away from and when he did he won the game… and then reverted back to his own system!
‘There are so many things that he must be cringing at the performances of Manchester United now, the atmosphere now and what Michael Carrick has done since being in there.
‘He really must be cringing if he is watching. I’m not sure he will be but he has to be because of everything they’re doing.’
According to Shearer, United now find themselves in a ‘great position’ to secure Champions League qualification.
‘Michael Carrick has put them in an absolutely great position to get Champions League football which, I must admit, that seemed impossible two months ago,’ the ex-Newcastle forward continued.
‘He’s done a fantastic job, he’s obviously settled everything down and the noise coming out of there is all positive now instead of all negative which it was under Ruben Amorim.
‘It really is a remarkable turnaround.’
Will Manchester United finish in the top four?
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Yes
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No
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