text KACION MAYERS
Previous spread, left: polyester jacket, cotton tank top and Air Max DN mesh and rubber trainers NIKE, cotton trousers Y/PROJECT (all worn here and in the last spread, right). Right: leather jacket PRADA, polyester trousers NIKE × BODE. Previous spread: silver ball chain worn throughout HATTON LABS, silver necklace and bracelet worn throughout LOUIS ABEL
This spread, opposite page: polyester and nylon jacket NIKE, leather trousers GUCCI, necklaces as before, canvas and leather trainers NIKE × BODE
It’s the day after a frustrating finish from Manchester United – conceding a late goal in a draw with relegation-facing Burnley – and I’ve arrived at Manchester Piccadilly station. Sixth in the Premier League at the time of writing with four games to play, the team are all but out of the Champions League reckoning, but there is still hope of qualifying for the Europa League. To leapfrog the likes of Aston Villa and Newcastle is one thing, but to outdo their longtime local rivals Manchester City, currently on track for a historic record-breaking fourth consecutive Premier League win, is another. United are the only other team to have even come close to this feat in the past.
A stone’s throw from the station exit, one of the north’s well-revered culinary destinations is bustling. After handing me my vegan sausage roll, a young lad behind the counter shrugs when asked about last night’s game. It was simply “disappointing”, he says. Curiously spurred by his curt response, I pose a similar question further along in an eerily empty Starbucks. As his colleague slides a mocha my way, one barista proclaims: “The team is good, it’s just poorly managed in my opinion. I don’t have anything [bad] to say about the players.” I march on, lending my ear to any local mouthpiece whose views flit between managerial critiques, the impact of a slew of detrimental injuries, and the city being ‘blue’ (Man City’s colours). It soon becomes clear that, much like stories of the Haçienda in its heyday, when it comes to opinions concerning Manchester United, everyone seems to have one. They are the most followed and engaged-with Premier League team, despite not securing a title since 2013. They have won 20 English league titles in all, 13 of them under Sir Alex Ferguson, the most of any other team. Their impact even gave me one of my middle names, Cole, taken from one of their top strikers, according to my father.
As I hoist my luggage into the hotel lif t, the lingering scent of the local ’Spoons trails a shifty-looking chap, sliding between the doors before they close. After a friendly northern greeting and proud affirming of his support of the Red Devils, he reels off his favourite players in a tone that makes you question whether you’re mad for even asking. There’s the 28-year-old forward, Anthony Martial – calm, collected and speedy but sadly injury-prone in his nine-year tenure at the team. Bruno Fernandes, the 29-year-old midfielder, as creative as he is silk y on the ball with 230 appearances and 79 goals across his four-year spell at the club. Then there’s Marcus Rashford, former Dazed cover star and pride of Manchester, acclaimed in the press for his achievements on the pitch (131 goals in 399 appearances) as well as off (campaigning for free school meals during the pandemic). Then comes a curveball. A name with barely a year’s experience under his belt playing for the senior team. A name with only 30 appearances and three goals but a name he mentioned with glee nonetheless. “Kobbie Mainoo. I mean… pftt, [Kobbie] is amazing. He’s an amazing player,” he says. “But you don’t want to put too much pressure on him.”
Mainoo is only 19 with a baby-faced smile to account for the fact. His humility offsets his increasingly fearsome reputation on the pitch, with the gentle presence of a boy still growing into himself – the hem of his oversized Balenciaga football jersey grazing his knuckles a la Ariana Grande. Flanked by agents, brand reps and his two adorably supportive sisters, Mainoo appears with a small entourage whose level of care and sensitivity is heightened as the pressure around their young star becomes more palpable. We are meeting the following afternoon at one of Sale’s local sports clubs, a lot like those that he’d spent his youth playing in, shuttling hours back and forth between home, school and training grounds. Eye contact is consistent, handshakes solid but most interestingly, he bears no signs of the pressures bestowed upon him. No signs of any ego inflation, despite plenty of reasons for there to be.
Just over a month after his first start for United in the Carabao Cup, Mainoo made his first-team Premier League debut at the age of 17, coming on as a substitute in a 3-0 win over Leicester in February. Then, in November, the United academy graduate found himself in the starting team, impressing ex-United pundits Gary Neville (“Manchester United’s best player by a street”) and the famously grumpy Roy Keane (“standout performer”) with his performance in a 3-0 win over Everton. Between touch-ups in the hair and make-up trailer, Mainoo weighs up what was once a dream but has now become his reality in the space of just over 12 months. “I knew it was a big chance, and not many of them come around, you know?” he says with slight disbelief. “I knew I had to come and make an impression and show myself on the pitch. It’s a great feeling.”
When Mainoo sent a spectacular, curling effort in the top-right corner during a 2-2 draw against Liverpool in April, he secured his first senior Old Trafford goal – at the ground’s hallowed Stretford End, no less – solidif ying his presence and piquing the interest of any remaining naysayers. Dreams became a reality as he jogged over to the Old Trafford faithful, raising a humble salute before being engulfed by his role models-turned-peers. “It was such a big game, such a close game,” says Mainoo. “It was 1-1 at the time and that was the stuff you dream of. It was a dream I’d always had, running towards the family stand at the Stretford End.”
Since bursting on to the scene, Mainoo has gone from FA Youth Cup winner to senior England international in under two years. In his debut for England in March, drafted on in a friendly against Brazil at Wembley, you’d never have guessed it was his international debut. Praising his youthful energy, manager Gareth Southgate said after the game that “sometimes, with the really young ones, they are not even thinking about [the occasion]. It’s all flowing and then maybe as you get a bit older you start to think about it a bit more. It is a beautiful, innocent moment when he is just in the flow and lapping up the opportunities as they come.” But how has he managed such monumental life shifts in a short space of time? “I just have to adapt quickly and try to get used to all this change,” says Mainoo. “I have good support behind me, and a good family so it’s not too crazy because they keep me grounded. They keep me humble.”
Kobbie Mainoo, or ‘Kobz’ as friends and family affectionately call him, was born in 2005, the year Roy Keane was dismissed by the club mere weeks after his infamous rant against his teammates. When the pandemic struck, Mainoo would have been a 14-year-old preparing for his GCSEs. It’s too easy to forget these facts when watching him on the pitch – comfortable, assured, agile and with a technical consistency well beyond his years. His parents always put school before training. “Can’t say I agree,” he jokes with a boyish grin, before clarif ying its importance for him. “Schoolwork always came first and then training came after. It was a great help to have parents who supported me.” We’re speaking just over a week after his 19th birthday celebrations – the first few days of his last teenage years. The boy is fast becoming a man, but it doesn’t seem to faze him. In fact, “it doesn’t feel too much different,” says Mainoo. “Things are happening very fast in life and there are a lot of games in such a short period. You don’t get a lot of time to stop and think about these things that are going on.”
Mainoo grew up in Stockport, seven miles south of Manchester. As the youngest of four siblings, his
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