Ryan Giggs has urged Kobbie Mainoo to ignore advice from Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt and stay and fight for his place at Manchester United.
Mainoo has not started a Premier League game all season with Lisandro Martinez the only member of the regular first-team squad to play less minutes than him this term.
United blocked his attempts to leave the club on loan in the final days of the summer transfer window with the England international still firmly behind Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro in Ruben Amorim’s midfield pecking order.
Mainoo is desperate for first-team football to ensure he is in contention to make Thomas Tuchel’s England squad heading to the World Cup next summer with Napoli his preferred destination.
United legends Scholes and Butt have firmly sided with Mainoo in the growing row over his role in the United team – which took another twist this week when his half-brother Jordan Mainoo-Hames wore a t-shirt with the message ‘Free Kobbie Mainoo’ during Monday’s 4-4 draw with Bournemouth.
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After blasting Amorim’s handling of the decision and accusing him of ‘wasting 18 months of Mainoo’s development,’ Scholes also urged the United star to join rivals Chelsea should the chance arise in January.
In a crowded field of club legends, Giggs is perhaps the United academy’s biggest success story, emerging with the famed ‘Class of 92’ to make a club record 963 appearances between 1991 and 2014 in becoming English football’s most decorated player.
While understanding of Mainoo’s frustrations, the former Wales international insists Mainoo is still ‘learning the game’ and must wait for his chance to reclaim a key role in the team.
‘I can see where the lads [Scholes and Butt] are coming from,’ Giggs told Metro via betting comparison site BetSelect.
‘As a footballer, you want to play. But I would have more patience because he is only 20, and it is difficult to play centre midfield for Man United. It’s like a striker. You don’t see many really young strikers playing for Man United because it is difficult.
‘We all feel that he should be getting more minutes, but he needs to be patient. He’s still young, he’s still learning the game. And when he does get his chance, he needs to take it. So I’d like to see him stay.’
Amorim has persistently defended his position on Amorim’s lack of game time, insisting he has no doubts over the player’s talent. His efforts to explain his treatment of the 20-year-old saw two other United youngsters in Harry Amass and Chido Obi clumsily criticised in the process earlier this week.
The saga also raised questions over United’s proud history of including at least one academy graduate in the first-team squad since 1937.
Giggs however is calm over the situation. The former winger points to Ayden Heaven’s recent run in the team – despite the defender not being academy graduate having joined from Arsenal in January – as an indication to how Amorim views youth, with 18-year-old Shea Lacey expected to have a role to play in the coming weeks in the absence of Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo.
Asked if Mainoo’s situation will have other youngsters fearing over their own pathway to the first-team, Giggs said: No, I don’t think so.
‘Heaven has played in some really tough games lately at centre half, which isn’t easy. So you are seeing the manager picking a 19-year-old. Recently, Shea Lacey was on the bench, who is only 18. So the manager has played young players.
‘But it depends on what the manager sees every day. Because I was given a chance when I was younger. I always give young players a chance because they’ll never let you down and will do exactly what you say.
‘United have got a massive history of academy players coming through, but they’ve got to be good enough. They’ve got to be good enough. You can’t just have a philosophy of playing young players who aren’t good enough. That can’t happen.
‘So that filters down below the first team. That’s the recruitment, the players who are playing in the youth team, playing in the reserves or the 21s, whether they be local lads or players from around the world.’