Football Ground Map
Football Ground Map
David Beckham. Ryan Giggs. Paul Scholes. Marcus Rashford. George Best. Manchester United's legendary academy has produced some of the most extraordinary footballers of all time. Decade after decade, new talents emerge and rise up the ranks into the first team.
The latest name to follow that path - Kobbie Mainoo. The 2023-24 season was a breakout year for the young star, earning him huge acclaim, plaudits, and even a spot in England's Euro 2024 team. Let's take a look back at that amazing season in detail.
A couple of years ago, few people had heard of Kobbie Mainoo. Now, he's a star of the game, the kind of players fans tune in to watch and spectators place bets on to score or have a Man of the Match performance on platforms like Pin-Up.
Born in Stockport to Ghanaian parents, Mainoo joined United's academy at just nine years of age. He worked hard over the years, building up to his extraordinary 2023-24 season, which saw him make 32 appearances across all competitions and score five goals.
Let's look at some of the highlights of that season.
Mainoo had made one substitute appearance in the 2022-23 season, but his full starting debut came in November of 2023. It was a match against Everton, and United ended up winning 3-0.
Mainoo may not have been one of the goalscorers that day, but he stole all the headlines. Former pros like Gary Neville praised his performance, and he was given the Man of the Match prize at only 18 years old. Clearly, he had a bright future ahead.
Mainoo made several more appearances in the latter months of 2023, and his first goals arrived at the start of 2024.
Namely, he scored as part of a 4-2 FA Cup win for United against Newport in late January. Then, at the start of February, he got his first Premier League goal in a narrow 4-3 win at Wolves.
The Wolves goal was a very dramatic one, as it came in the 7th minute of injury time. Many fans thought the game was going to end 3-3, but Mainoo came up clutch, right at the death, to earn his team three points. And that wasn't the last dramatic goal he'd score that season.
Suddenly, Mainoo had gone from a relative unknown to one of the biggest names in the Premier League. Across the globe, fans of United and even other teams were frantically looking up news about Man United and eagerly searching for more information about the young star:
By the end of the season, Mainoo had cemented his spot in the Man United first 11. But the club had had a mostly poor season overall and failed to win any trophies. But they still had one last shot: the FA Cup final with arch-rivals, Manchester City.
City were coming off the back of a 4th successive Premier League win, and were big favorites at Wembley for the cup. However, Mainoo proved the doubters wrong and overturned the odds, scoring the winning goal in a dramatic 2-1 win.
Mainoo's amazing form also earned him a spot with the Three Lions. He was given his England debut in March of 2024 against Brazil, earned Man of the Match in his second appearance, and then got picked in the England squad for Euro 2024. At the tournament, Mainoo played several games, including the final, which England lost to Spain.
It's still early days in Mainoo's career, but so far, he looks like the real deal, the next name in a long-running series of Man United academy superstars. He's got lots of room to grow and develop, and there's truly no telling how good he could become.
My daughter's first ever football match - Orlando City v Atlanta United, August 2019. Written for Izzy to read when she gets old enough. Vamos Orlando
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