Paul Ince claims that Kobbie Mainoo praise needs to be reined in – Man United News And Transfer News

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Former Manchester United midfielder, Paul Ince, has warned fans not to get too carried away by youngster Kobbie Mainoo.

The 18 year old has been a revelation this season, ever since he made his full debut away to Everton at the end of November.

The Englishman has gone on to play 23 times so far this season for the first team and has cemented himself as one of the first names on the team sheet.

Mainoo underlined his quality once again with an outrageous strike at the Stretford End to give United the lead in a game they would ultimately draw.

Most players never score such a goal for their boyhood team against their most bitter rivals. He has already ticked off that particular objective at 18.

His meteoric rise has seen him recently called up for the England team twice and there is a strong possibility he will be part of the Euro 2024 squad.

His fine form has seen former United legends compare the player to two of the great modern day midfielders. Rio Ferdinand has previously stated that Mainoo gives him “(Clarence) Seedorf vibes” and Nemanja Vidic has commented that he reminds him a little of Luka Modric.

However, former midfielder, Paul Ince, has suggested that the rave reviews are kept in check when it comes to the Stockport native.

Speaking to talkSPORT about how much of a talent Mainoo is, he surprisingly commented, “he is okay. He is okay. Let’s not get carried away”.

The former midfield general went on say, “this is the problem … there was a time when he gave the ball away, and to be fair, Fernandes ran back 60 yards, shut out a shot, and Onana pushed it past the post. No one said a word to Kobbie Mainoo.

“If that had been me or Keane, he would have got absolutely roasted because you can’t give the ball away in those positions. And he did that”.

“Yes, he scored a great goal, yes, he is still young, yes, he has got potential to be a very, very good player, but let’s not go over the top … As I said, he is … still young”.

It is incredibly strange to describe Mainoo has an “OK” player when everybody has seen his composed, mature play for an 18 year old in a less than ideal scenario.

However, there is logic to the idea that the player is not perfect and he does need to work on various elements of his game, especially defensively.

Luckily, he comes across as a very mature, switched on young man, and this was apparent in his post-match interview where he chose to focus on dropping points rather than his wonder strike against the Merseysiders.

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