Koby Mainu struggled to feature regularly under Ruben Amorim last season and could have left the club had the Portuguese remained in charge at Old Trafford.
Koby Mainu made a comeback in the second half of last season under new head coach Michael Carrick.
Harry Maguire has taken aim at Ruben Amorim and revealed details about the youngster’s treatment, insisting Koby Mainou would have left Manchester United if the Portuguese manager had stayed. Mainu endured a frustrating season last season with limited space and limited chances due to Amorim’s tactical set-up.
He remained absent from the Premier League’s starting XI until his manager was sacked in January. Amorim, 41, proved unable to handle Mainu despite trying him in various positions. The midfielder was also used as a striker in the home defeat to Crystal Palace in February 2025, and was eventually named in competition with Bruno Fernandes for minutes in deep midfield.
Reflecting on the first difficult months of the campaign, Mainu told reporters: “Of course there were some difficult moments, but I tried to focus on what was in front of me, take it one day at a time, keep doing my job, keep working hard for the team. And I hoped the rest would come. Thankfully, that’s what happened.”
Michael Carrick, who initially briefly replaced Amorim until the end of last season, immediately reinstated the midfielder into the starting lineup. Mainu’s performances in the second half of the season were so impressive that he secured a place in England’s squad for the World Cup.
But things could have been very different if Amorim had taken charge at Old Trafford. Speaking on Netflix’s The Rest Is Football podcast, Maguire was asked if he found Mainu’s treatment under the Portuguese manager puzzling.
“Yeah, I think it all stems from playing in a two-man formation[in the center of midfield]and he wanted Bruno to be one of those two,” Maguire explained. “And I think he wanted a real defensive player alongside Bruno, and Coby at the time was young and inexperienced and probably didn’t know the position very well.
“But listen, if Ruben was still the manager, Coby probably would have shifted and looked for a new club. But he’s turned things around, credit to him. He’s a Manchester player, he’s coming from the academy and we want them to be players at our club to take the club forward for the next 10 years. And he has the ability to do that, so hopefully he’ll be at the club for the next 10 years.”
The Stockport-born youngster had become frustrated with his limited playing time and applied for a loan in the final week of last summer’s transfer window. United rejected the move and the midfielder continued to find it difficult to feature in the first team under Amorim.
Maguire went on to elaborate on why Mainu is such a talented player, adding: “I think he was our top player up until the last three months of the season, but he and Bruno were definitely our best players in the last few months of the season.”
“He’s putting everything together. He’s very good with the ball, he takes the ball away, he’s strong, he looks like he’s getting more athletic. He’s still young, his body can still grow, he’s still going to get experience. He has to learn the position and he’ll get even better once he learns the position. But I believe he’s going to have a great career.”
With manager Michael Carrick in charge for the entire season, Mainu will have a more prominent role, but the 21-year-old will enjoy it under a manager who clearly believes in him.
“I love the way he coaches and manages me both within the team and individually,” he previously said. “I think everyone on the team agrees with that. We were all very happy when he officially took the job.”
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