It has been reported that while Manchester City would happily sign Kobbie Mainoo, he intends to stay put at Manchester United.
This comes from journalist Graeme Bailey on 90 Min’s Talking Transfers podcast, after it was first claimed in July that certain members of United’s staff internally believed that the 18-year-old is exactly the type of youngster they would have lost to City a few years ago.
But now, Kobbie Mainoo is set not to join Manchester City as his intention is to continue developing at Manchester United.
Journalist: Manchester City would happily sign Kobbie Mainoo but a move is impossible
However, it has been reiterated that City do not view the highly-rated midfielder as a transfer target at this point in time.
Simply, if the Englishman was on the market, the treble-winners would be happy to bring him to the Etihad Stadium.
Graeme Bailey has broken down whether Manchester United wonderkid Kobbie Mainoo has even considered signing for Manchester City.
“Yeah, to be fair to both clubs, they both sort of played this down. Don’t get me wrong, if United made Mainoo available, Man City would be knocking the door down but this is a player City have literally tried to sign since he was 9 years old”, he said.
“He’s never shown any willingness to move across to the city. Luckily for United, he’s been committed to the club and always will be. It’s one of those ones where City are like, ‘of course, we like him, if he was available, we would’ but they haven’t made any efforts behind-the-scenes.”
The prospect of Kobbie Mainoo playing for Manchester City has been deemed impossible by Graeme Bailey, who concluded, “I understand the player himself is more than happy at United, there’s not much into this. Yes, technically, City do like him and would sign him but he’s not moving.”
Manchester City have an elite academy that they can rely on themselves
While Kobbie Mainoo seems like a top player in the making, a club like Manchester City can simply rely on their own conveyor belt of excellent talents to blood into the side.
For instance, names like Phil Foden and Rico Lewis are expected to be the faces of City’s midfield for years to come.
The likes of James McAtee and Tommy Doyle, who are on loan at Sheffield United and Wolves respectively are also excellent young midfielders.
As a result, for arguably the best academy in the country, the club simply have no reason to feel too disappointed about failing to land the Manchester United gem.
