So United are looking to lock down Kobbie Mainoo until 2031.
This isn’t done yet, but Fabrizio Romano has basically given it the “here we go-ish” treatment. He's said that "Manchester United are closing in on new deal for Kobbie Mainoo after talks reported since January — valid until June 2031.
New deal for Kobbie was a priority since he returned key player under Carrick.
Final details needed, not done yet but close + #MUFC optimistic."
Not a done deal but when he says it’s close, it’s basically done. The club will probably wrap this up after the international break and move on like it’s all sorted.
I’ve been meaning to talk about Kobbie Mainoo for a while now. And with this little break, plus the news of a new deal, now feels like the perfect time.
But this one isn’t as straightforward as it looks.
Mainoo has become… weirdly divisive.
Not long ago, this was the guy. Future of the club. Untouchable. Everyone agreed.
Now?
Half the fanbase loves him. The other half wouldn’t exactly complain if he moved on. And all of this because of how he’s been managed.
When Ruben Amorim decided to bench Mainoo so Bruno Fernandes could play deeper, that’s when things started getting strange.
Bruno deeper just doesn’t hit the same. You lose what makes him dangerous, the attack suffers, and somehow your best young midfielder is now watching from the bench.
So in trying to fix one thing, he managed to break about three others.
Impressive, in a way.
Mainoo barely played. And when he did, it was stop-start, out of rhythm, and honestly… not great.
Which then led to people saying:
“Maybe the manager is right about him", even though they didn’t agree with the manager on anything else.
Make that make sense.
And now we’ve gone to the other extreme. Under Michael Carrick, it’s the complete opposite.
Mainoo starts every game. No breaks. No easing in. Just straight back into the XI like nothing happened.
But in wanting him to get back into the team, I have to admit that he hasn’t been that good.
Not terrible. Not awful.
Just… average.
And that’s the problem.
This is why I think we've seen him struggle recently.
You don’t bench a 20-year-old for months, kill his rhythm, then throw him back in every week and expect him to just pick up where he left off.
That’s not development. That’s chaos.
Before all this, his pathway actually made sense. He was being integrated slowly, learning, rotating, and then stepping up into a regular role. That’s how young players are supposed to grow.
What he’s had this past year is a total 180. One extreme to another, with no real stability in between.
And we’re surprised he looks off it?
And yet… we’ve seen what he can be.
Let’s not pretend we imagined it. That 23/24 season under Erik ten Hag — he wasn’t just good. He was one of United’s best players.
Calm on the ball. Composed. Never rushed. That Wolves winner? Yeah… that wasn’t normal.
That’s not something you just stumble into. That’s quality.
Which is why this whole situation is frustrating because at the moment, people are judging a disrupted version of Mainoo instead of the actual player we saw before.
And those aren’t the same thing.
With all that being said, I’m happy with the contract.
There’s too much upside to let him go. His composure alone is something you can’t teach, and it’s something this squad doesn’t have enough of.
Add in the fact that he’s an academy player, and it becomes even more important. That identity still matters at this club, whether people like to admit it or not. He's also only 20 which means he has a lot of room for development.
Let him go and suddenly look like a top player somewhere else?
Yeah… we’ve seen that story before. No thanks.
But let’s not pretend everything’s fine either. Because it’s not.
Right now, Mainoo needs rhythm again. He needs stability. He needs proper development — not being thrown from one situation to another and expected to just deal with it.
If that doesn’t happen, then this contract means very little.
This isn’t about whether Mainoo is good or not. We’ve already seen that he is. He was picked for the England squad based on these average performances so imagine what will happen when he's back to his best.
But the real question is:
Have United handled him well enough to actually get that version of him back?
If they haven’t…
This new contract won’t fix it.
What do you think though? Mainoo — future star we’re protecting?
Or a situation we’ve already started mishandling?
Kobbie Mainoo looks set to sign new deal until 2031 with Man Utd |Credit: Getty Images Copyright: 2026 Getty Images via Goal