Kobbie

I'd like to discuss Kobbie Mainoo in a bit more depth. Obviously he's one of the few topics that unites everyone on this forum. His quality isn't a subject for debate. But I'd be interested in hearing everyone's thoughts in terms of how we define him. What are the particular characteristics that make him stand out? What players does he remind you of? What position could you see him end up in? What profile of player should United recruit to complement his attributes in a midfield built around him?

None of us knows the answers to these questions, as we're only just getting to know him as a player and he's only just getting his first taste of senior football. The sample size is so small that any single game yields a proportionately large chunk of new information about him (last night being a great example). So this discussion is a work in progress, just as the player is. But my thoughts to kick it off:

I read somewhere (and frustratingly can't find it now) something that talked about how Kobbie's biomechanics facilitate good technique and efficiency. He's able to change direction and adjust passing angles available to him in a way that looks unusually effortless, which serves him really well in carrying the ball under pressure, both buying time before passing and leaving a range of passing options open until the last moment. His close control is excellent, and he clearly has a few tricks in the bag, though he has sensibly not deployed them often when playing in a defensive midfield position. His passing technique is smooth - strokes the ball and with a good judge of how much pace to put on it. His calmness and maturity in decision making are ridiculous for his age. A debut goal and a league debut goal in a clutch situation, in successive games, (both massive milestones for an emerging player) taken with precision and quiet confidence. Very good defensive awareness, anticipation and positioning.

What players does he resemble? (Obviously, any comparisons at this stage aren't claiming he's going to be as good as the players we talk about.) I struggle with this. Rio likened him to Clarence Seedorf... There's something in the combination of intelligence and passing, but Seedorf was more powerfully built, and more influential in the final third with creative passing than Mainoo is so far. Scholes is an obvious point of comparison; he had a greater range of long passing than Mainoo (so far), a penchant for the thunderсunt and ability to get on the end of scrappy goals that we haven't seen from Mainoo yet (but who knows what we'll see next week); aesthetically they look different to me in deeper midfield roles but having a player who is rarely rushed and passes intelligently inevitably reminds us of the era of Carrick and Scholes.

What kind of midfielder will he turn into, and what profile of midfielders should we have beside him? It was said before this season that he's good enough to be a 6 in a possession-based side and possibly the best player in our squad to take the ball on the turn, but that this would underutilise some of his talents. We're starting to get more glimpses of what he can do when operating in positions where the onus isn't on recycling the ball securely. I'm agnostic as to whether we recruit a DM to 'unleash' Mainoo or we go for a double pivot that provides more variety in which midfielders participate in build-up and associated attacking patterns. Either way, it's essential that the next midfielders we recruit are technically sound enough that we're no longer in the position that Mainoo is the only guy who can comfortably anchor the midfield in the first phase of build-up.

Over to you!