Kobbie Mainoo was an 'exceptional' footballer at four years old, we knew he would be a star after just two weeks

Kobbie Mainoo's rise to fame has been hugely impressive and his former coach could see his potential from the beginning.

Mainoo has enjoyed an excellent season of progress in manchester unitedmaking 20 appearances at just 18 years old.

He was rewarded with his first England international against Brazil and looks set to make his first start against Belgium on Tuesday. live on talkSPORT.

While many fans may be surprised to see such a rapid acceleration in senior football, one of his former coaches knew it could be special.

Steve Vare coached him at Cheadle & Gatley Junior Football Club and revealed to talkSPORT how quickly it took the youngster to impress him, saying: “Kobbie joined us when he was about four or five years old.

“At that time, we were running an indoor facility for the reception of the school year and the first school year, so they would have been four or five years old. I think in the span of a couple of weeks, you could say that this child He was exceptional, an absolutely exceptional talent.

“Even at four or five years old, I know it sounds silly to say that, did we think he would make his Manchester United debut and play for England? Of course not, but obviously hope and dream about the boy.

“But he was a phenomenal player and I remember one of the parents who used to help me on Sunday mornings, who actually did or does some professional training, looked at me and said, 'Wow, what a player this kid could be.'” be.'

“Even at that young age, I think, as Declan Rice put it, calm and collected. I think you'd even say that about how Kobbie, at four or five years old, nothing fazed him, absolutely nothing.”

Vare added: “I think at Cheadle & Gatley we realized we had to challenge Kobbie from the start.

4

4

“We used to do a warm-up before going into intramural games and generally you'd give the guy a nice, soft pass to kick it towards the goal and score a goal. But with Kobbie, it was too much.” easy for him.

“So I used to get to the point where I would absolutely throw him passes, and again he would just take it in stride and put it in the corner of the net. Then you'd think, 'Well, how can you challenge him?' even more?'

“So I would start dunking the ball for him so it would bounce right in front of him and again he would time it and kick the ball into the net. In the five-on-five games we used to have, he used to get through the games and score 14 or 15 goals in a five-player game.

“We had two fields prepared, one for the reception of the school year and the other for the first school year, so some slightly older children, more physical boys and girls.

“But very, very early on we thought, 'Kobbie needs to play on the older boys' field,' and nothing fazed him. His father used to say, 'How can we challenge him?'

“We used to have little tests, so you could only score with your weaker foot, you could only have two touches, you had to pass the ball to a colleague because otherwise it would be too easy for them.

4

“We used to have to try to load opposing teams with our best players who were there just to try to challenge him.

“He just took it all in his stride and sometimes you have to be careful pushing the kids into the older field because suddenly they get hit, it's a little more physical, but not for Kobbie. He just took it all in his stride and said: 'Forward'”.