Kobbie Mainoo, Manchester United’s teenage sensation, emerged from a “whirlwind of emotions” after his first England call-up and immediately set his sights on securing a spot in Gareth Southgate’s squad for Euro 2024.
Mainoo, who admitted he was shocked at being promoted from the Under-21s this week, believes he will have a chance of making it to Germany this summer if he maintains his prodigious rise at United.
“I think that’s the end goal for the season, to get into that squad,” the 18-year-old said after training with England’s seniors at St George’s Park on Wednesday. “Obviously I’ve got to focus on club football in the meantime, and hopefully that’ll figure itself out.”
Mainoo has emerged as a potential wildcard option for Southgate, who has selection issues in midfield before England’s friendlies against Brazil on Saturday and Belgium next Tuesday. Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold is unavailable through injury and Kalvin Phillips has been dropped after failing to impress since joining West Ham on loan from Manchester City.
Omitting Phillips will hand an opportunity for another midfielder to push for a starting spot alongside Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham, but Southgate is not blessed with options. Injury dashed any hopes of including Liverpool’s Curtis Jones, while Mason Mount is England’s forgotten man, having only just returned to action after being out since November with a calf problem.
There is a lack of depth and Southgate settled on calling up five midfielders last week: Rice, Bellingham, Conor Gallagher, Jordan Henderson and James Maddison. He resisted calls to include Mainoo, preferring to let him develop in the Under-21s, only to change direction after the youngster starred during United’s 4-3 win against Liverpool.
“It’s been a pretty mad couple of days,” Mainoo said. “Sunday obviously was a great game and a great win. Then to get called up to the Under-21s, obviously I was excited to come. Then getting down here and realising that I was with the first team was amazing. I was shocked and happy and it’s been a whirlwind of emotions.”
Mainoo, who is eligible to play for Ghana, has been excellent since making his first league start last November. He has made sure to pick up tips from his fellow United midfielders, Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro. Playing for England had barely crossed the boyhood United fan’s mind. He made his debut in a League Cup tie against Charlton last season but his progress stalled after an injury in the run-up to the current campaign.
“I thought I was going to hit the ground running at the start of the season but I had an injury against Real Madrid,” Mainoo said. “It required surgery. But it didn’t hold me back too much. Around November I got my first start and since then everything’s gone so fast.”
Mainoo is not the only newcomer in the squad. Jarrad Branthwaite also has a chance to impress after the Everton centre-back was called up for the first time.
The former Carlisle youngster has made rapid progress since his loan spell at PSV Eindhoven last season. The 21-year-old, who made his debut for Carlisle when he was 16, was on the bench when England’s Under‑21s became European champions last summer. Levi Colwill and Taylor Harwood-Bellis were the starting centre-backs, but Branthwaite has gone on to establish himself in Everton’s defence.
“You look at the Under-21s last summer and there were top players starting. It was difficult to get into that team,” Branthwaite said. “If you’d have said at the start of the season that I would be in the England squad then I probably wouldn’t have believed it, but that’s where I am now.”
The 6ft 5in defender credited Carlisle and his parents for helping him get through an injury that left him on the brink of quitting football when he was 15.
“I had tendinitis in my knee,” Branthwaite said. “I was out for 18 months, couldn’t run. They weren’t going to give me a scholarship. They gave me a four-week trial period to see if I wanted it enough. Within two, three months I was given my first professional contract.
“If it wasn’t for my mam and dad, I probably wouldn’t have carried on. In my mind, I was thinking: ‘If they don’t want me now, what’s four weeks gonna do?’ But my dad gave me a training programme, and I stuck to that, and it helped me get a scholarship.”
