Hypothetical - Would you sell Kobbie Mainoo for £100m?

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VP89

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I was told a CFO at a football agency said Chelsea will test Manchester United with £100m for Kobbie Mainoo in the summer and chuckled :lol:

I don't believe it and I'm not trying to suggest its a reasonable source, hence this is certainly not a "Mainoo (Out)" thread. But I did wonder what we'd do in that situation - would we accept it and would that be the right move? If we had the right talent identification through Wilcox/Vivel that £100m can take us a long way.

What would you think in this hypothetical scenario? I'd always keep Mainoo he's indispensable but I also think we have a lot of areas needing fixing and we'll need to offload talent to do it. It's a shame no one will take Rashford and other deadwood.
 
Yes I would. He’s got a lot of potential but as we’ve seen with Garnacho, you can have a break out season and then start to look distinctly average. Mainoo hasn’t kicked on this season like how I thought he would. I would personally take it and invest that money into multiple positions given the financial mess the club is in and the amount of positions we need filling.
 
£100m no, but if someone offered £150m i would consider it. Everyonr is and should be for sale for the right price which for Mainoo should be higher than the fee they paid for Enzo
 
No because we'd use the funds appallingly
 
This feels a bit like the would you swap Martial for Messi thread?
Or the Rashford Vs Mbappe thread
 
Obviously, but no one would value him there.

Like saying would you sell Dalot to Real for £50m? Obviously, but they won't offer that.

At least this one makes more sense, given his age, than the thread in the summer where people genuinely were saying if Bruno left he'd go for £100m!
 
If we'd buy 20 Diego Leons for the money, high potential youngsters for peanuts (and bin 75% of the squad), then yes. But our transfer history is likely the worst in world football in recent years, so no. He's one of the 5-6 players I'd definitely keep around.
 
MiceOnMeth said:
This feels a bit like the would you swap Martial for Messi thread?
Or the Rashford Vs Mbappe thread
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Everyone missed the point entirely on my Martial vs Messi thread. It was created when he burst onto the scene and we had a phenom of unknown potential on our hands. The question was more philosophical - do you get more pleasure out of galactico signings or developing exciting talent.
 
In a heartbeat. He's an alright footballer none of you had even heard of 12 months ago. He might become good, but I'll tell you who will be good; a proper 100 million pound midfielder who already knows what it takes.

He's shown glimpses so far, much like many failures of our past. Unless it's a 16 year old Rooney, you take the money and buy the finished product with it. What big club says "nah, we don't want to win immediately, we want to let the talent develop"??!? Bonkers.
 
What if it was City with the 100M bid? He then goes on to have an amazing career and gets a statue put up beside Vincent Kompany and Shaun Goater.
 
Yes, because we are still very much an inconsistent team trying to get back to the top. Mainoo may become the best midfielder ever in 5 years but we could really use some cash injection now.

Players come and go. I hate to say this but desperately need our recruiting to go right
 
AltiUn said:
No because we'd use the funds appallingly
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This. We’d need to replace him, and could end up worse off. Why take the risk?

That’s even ignoring the fact he’s a Mancunian and he should be the face of our side for the next 15 years.
 
Probably not. £100m these days gets your an Antony and a Zirkzee.
 
Don't care about the money, we would probably spoil it anyway.

I would much rather watch Mainoo play for us the next 10-15 years than pretty much any sum you offer for him.
bond19821982 said:
Yes, because we are still very much an inconsistent team trying to get back to the top. Mainoo may become the best midfielder ever in 5 years but we could really use some cash injection now.

Players come and go. I hate to say this but desperately need our recruiting to go right
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Players do come and go, homegrown locals do not.
Would you have sold Scholes for the equivalent amount back in the 90's?*

*Not saying that Mainoo will be as good as Scholes, as nobody knows how these kids will develop over the years.
 
Hammondo said:
I think we are turning a corner with this though.
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Lots of false dawns and false corners turned the past decade.

Also, 100 mill ain’t what it used to be, and Kobbie’s had a sluggish start to the season, which isn’t too strange considering the year he’s had. I expect him to improve, and I’d rather keep him.
 
Get to feck. The best young player to come through our academy in well over a decade and we're contemplating selling him before he even turns 20. May as well be Birmingham City.
 
There's certainly a price I'd sell him at, but I'm not sure £100m is such a massive fee that it reaches that threshold.

Just looking at some other PL purchases for context:

Enzo Fernandez - €121m - 22 years old.
Jack Grealish - €117m - 25 years old.
Declan Rice - €116m - 24 years old.
Moises Caicedo - €116m - 22 years old.

Those were all players a few years older than the currently 19 year old Mainoo, who also still had a lot to prove to justify that fee, who weren't all English (with the price raising effect that has) and were all prised from clubs with less status/wealth than Manchester United.

Given we don't actually want to sell him, I don't think a bid of €120m-ish is irrefusable in that context. "More than you paid for Enzo Fernandez" would seem a pretty reasonable starting point if Chelsea actually tried to buy him from us.
 
No.

Would just further kill the game for me if someone like Mainoo becomes some accounting
 
In a heartbeat £100m even if he develops to his potential £100m is still a good price given the way Real Madrid are spending more frugally these days.

Added to this not sure how Mainoo will fit or develop in Amorims system, may be brilliant but he may stall and not kick on, we also need the money, so I don't think we should refuse to sell any player for £100m or more, none of our players are so good that they are irreplaceable
 
Devil_forever said:
Yes I would. He’s got a lot of potential but as we’ve seen with Garnacho, you can have a break out season and then start to look distinctly average. Mainoo hasn’t kicked on this season like how I thought he would. I would personally take it and invest that money into multiple positions given the financial mess the club is in and the amount of positions we need filling.
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I think this is quite harsh.

Mainoo spent 2023 pre season and the first third of the season injured. Came into the team and played almost every game, and then the euros. Basically no real break. Came back into an underperforming team and got injured. He's still a teenager.

He's had a horrible first year of senior football for his development. I think we should temper our expectations for a teenager in a dysfunctional team. Amorim is clearly easing him back in and being careful with minutes for most of the team.
 
I won't sell, not because Mainoo is a certainty or anything like that, but purely because I am not sure the club will be able to reinvest the money and replace him.
 
Devil_forever said:
Yes I would. He’s got a lot of potential but as we’ve seen with Garnacho, you can have a break out season and then start to look distinctly average. Mainoo hasn’t kicked on this season like how I thought he would. I would personally take it and invest that money into multiple positions given the financial mess the club is in and the amount of positions we need filling.
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Terrible post.

Frustrating =/= distinctly average, when it comes to a player of garnachos age and profile.
And mainoos been injured for majority of the season and has just come back into a new system, new manager and still literally a teenager. Your annoyed a 19 year old who's been injured majority of the season hasn't kicked on?
 
No, not because Mainoo is 100 million player or for sure will be 100m player, simple reason is, we are not good at signing replacements.

I can see us signing average player for 50+ million.
 
No, Manchester United should always aim to have players like Mainoo in our team. Local people that have been developed in house since they were young, I’d say it’s arguably more important than success & trophies.
 
I remember when Adnan Januzaj broke through and was scoring volleys and worldies and PSG offered us £40m which was rejected out of hand.
 
I love watching him play and he grew up a couple of miles from me too, which for some reason I put stock in.

But yes, I’d take the £100m as I don’t see a defined role for him at United based on the attributes he has shown so far. He seems like a silky player who doesn’t actually contribute too much to anything, other than being able to recycle and retain the ball in tight areas.

I’d also accept £150m.
 
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