Update: |Manchester United coach Ruben Amorim reveals what he wants Kobbie Mainoo to improve News

Kobbie Mainoo has played a minor role at Man United this season due to two significant injuries but is fit again.

Ruben Amorim has promised he will help Kobbie Mainoo find a settled position in the Manchester United team.

Mainoo is fit again following a two-month absence with a muscular injury and has travelled with the United squad to Lyon for their Europa League quarter-final first leg on Thursday.

The 19-year-old was arguably United’s biggest success story of last season, recovering from a four-month lay-off with an ankle injury to make his full Premier League debut in November before scoring the winner in the FA Cup final against Manchester City.

Mainoo’s form led to a maiden England squad call-up in March before he was included in the European Championship squad. Mainoo started in all four of England’s knockout ties as they reached the final in Germany.

The midfielder has struggled this season and spent a combined four months out injured with two separate muscular injuries. Amorim has played Mainoo in midfield, as a playmaker and even up front but it is unclear where the teenager could establish himself in the Portuguese’s 3-4-2-1 system.

There is also uncertainty over the academy graduate’s United future after Mainoo rejected the club’s opening offer of a new deal earlier this season. Mainoo’s current contract has a maximum expiry date of 2028.

“In this moment, we have to be careful with Kobbie,” Amorim said. “He had some games out, so we have to be careful with his fitness.

“We are really happy to have more options and an option like Kobbie Mainoo, with the quality that he has – he has played as a 6, as an 8 and as a 10 – we are really pleased to have Kobbie Mainoo but we have to be careful, we need Kobbie Mainoo fit and fresh.

“In England, sometimes they play with three defenders also, was more or less the same position. So he can play, we need to help him and find a little bit like Casemiro, [who] is playing better because we understand better the way Casemiro can play.

“And I think we can do that with Kobbie because he has a lot of qualities. He is really good on the ball but also near the opponent’s box. We will try to manage all that and find the right space for a player like Kobbie.”

Mainoo captured the imagination of the nation during Euro 2024 as he slotted into midfield next to Declan Rice. However, the Mancunian has not played for England since the final defeat to Spain in July due to injury while Mainoo looked fatigued during his early-season appearances for United.

Amorim moved captain Bruno Fernandes to a deep-lying midfield role recently before reverting to the axis of Casemiro and Manuel Ugarte. Mainoo scored and assisted in United’s 2-0 win at FCSB in January whilst operating as one of the two playmakers yet three days later Amorim started Mainoo up front against Crystal Palace.

The United coach suggested the hype surrounding Mainoo following his international exploits had impacted perceptions of him.

“I think that is also a little bit the problem,” Amorim added. “When I see Kobbie Mainoo, I see a lot of talent but in the way I see it – I could be wrong, that is for sure – I see some things that Kobbie Mainoo has to improve: the pace during the game. He has qualities we can use, in build up he needs to improve.

“Near the box he has a lot of talent. That’s why he did a very good game in Europa League in that position. When I see Kobbie Mainoo, I see not as a full player in the moment because he’s 19 and if I say to Kobbie, ‘no, you are done, you are the final player’, I am not helping Kobbie.”

United are yet to know the extent of Matthijs de Ligt’s foot injury and Toby Collyer is expected to be out for three weeks with a leg injury.