Kobbie Mainoo has impressed in midfield for Manchester United this season (Picture: Getty Images)
Gareth Southgate says Kobbie Mainoo is doing brilliantly for Manchester United, but has not played enough games at senior level to have earned an England call-up just yet.
The 18-year-old has been a fixture in Erik ten Hag’s starting XI since playing his first Premier League game of the season in November.
The teenager has shown qualities beyond his years in the Red Devils midfield, with his calmness and leadership extremely impressive.
However, he has only made 15 Premier League appearances and just 22 first team appearances in total and Southgate thinks it is just too little experience for the senior England team.
The England boss named his squad on Thursday for upcoming friendlies against Brazil and Belgium and hailed Mainoo alongside some other standout young players, but as stars of the Under-21 squad.
‘There are some players with the Under-21s, especially in midfield, who are doing exceptionally well,’ said Southgate. ‘The likes of Kobbie Mainoo, Harvey Elliott, Rico [Lewis] was with us last time, Archie Gray at Leeds is doing very, very well.’
On Mainoo missing out on the senior squad, the manager said: ‘I think that he’s doing brilliantly for a young player, and we’re never slow to put a young payer into the seniors, but he’s only had a handful of games and you have to be very careful development-wise in making those decisions at the right time.
Gareth Southgate has been impressed with what he has seen from Mainoo (Picture: Getty Images)
‘We think ideally we should allow him that space to develop at his own speed. He’s not at the point in terms of number of games that Jude [Bellingham] or Bukayo [Saka] were when they came in for the first time.
‘But I repeat he’s doing really well for a young player, he’s a good footballer, you can see that and he’s getting some fabulous experience at Manchester United at the moment and looks a really good character.’
Also missing out in midfield is Kalvin Phillips, who is enduring something of a nightmare loan spell at West Ham, where he was looking to prove his form and fitness after struggling for minutes at Manchester City.
‘I think he knows exactly what we think of him,’ said Southgate. ‘A good version of him is an important player for us. We don’t have many players of that profile.
Kalvin Phillips has a lot of work to do to make it to Euro 2024 (Picture: Getty Images)
‘Unfortunately, his form just hasn’t been good enough. I’ve spoken to him, he knows that.
‘I said to him towards the end of last year, if he didn’t play at City, it was going to be a problem.’
MORE : Ben White made himself ‘unavailable’ for England squad, says Gareth Southgate
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