Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has one of England’s brightest prospects coming through the ranks.
Erik ten Hag was unfortunate not to sign the player he wanted most during his first summer in charge, with Frenkie de Jong staying at Barcelona.
De Jong was a player who Ten Hag helped become a star at Ajax, before the Dutch club cashed in.
Now at Manchester United, thanks to a little patience, he has another budding superstar coming through, Kobbie Mainoo.
This time the manager will want to keep hold of the talented prospect.
Kobbie Mainoo scores winner
Kobbie Mainoo scored the winner to fire Manchester United to a 4-3 win over Wolves, which made a change from the usual tepid encounters between the two teams.
United dominated the game, before a 3-1 lead was blown, with Wolves scoring in the 85th minute and 95th minute to make it 3-3.
Sir Alex Ferguson was watching on from the stands, and this team showed a ‘never say die spirit’ reminiscent of one of his old teams.
Academy star Kobbie Mainoo stepped up, dribbling through the Wolves defence and scoring a 97th minute winner, curling the ball into he bottom corner.
Erik ten Hag reacts
Erik ten Hag gave Mainoo the highest possible praise after the win, labelling his progress as ‘incredible’ and lauding him as the ‘modern midfield player’.
The Dutchman explained: “He is making incredible progress. He has great abilities, he is the modern midfield player.
“He can defend and attack but also he has the physicality to do both ways. He is also composed.”
Ten Hag was quite pleased with the performance but very frustrated with the team failing to put the gae out of sight.
He said: “We should go up 3-0 or 4-0 but we didn’t and then in the end it is quite naïve. The way we conceded goals shouldn’t happen but then we showed resilience. Especially Kobbie Mainoo. It was a great goal.”