Kobbie Mainoo ‘needs a run in the team’, insists Paul Scholes, as he hails Manchester United youngster as the ‘real deal’ and says none of the midfielder’s team-mates ‘sense danger’ like he does

Paul Scholes has called for teenage midfielder Kobbie Mainoo to be a permanent fixture in Manchester United‘s starting XI moving forward.

Mainoo caught the eye when he made his first Premier League start in a 3-0 win against Everton on Sunday, but was only used as a second-half substitute in United’s 3-3 draw with Galatasaray.

The Red Devils struggled to contain Galatasaray in a frantic end-to-end contest, and Scholes believes Mainoo must now be given a starting role as he offers the team more control when he is playing.

‘I think Mainoo needs a run in the team. And from what we saw at Everton on Sunday, I think now it’s time to give him a chance,’ Scholes told TNT Sports after the pulsating draw.

‘This back four, they need protecting. No one senses danger as much as this young lad. 

Scholes believes Mainoo spots danger well and can help United control matches better

‘On Sunday, in a hostile atmosphere, he looked the real deal. I don’t see anyone else being able to protect the back four like he can do.’

Scholes’s demand to see more of Mainoo came after fellow pundit Owen Hargreaves questioned the current balance of the team in the middle of the park.

Speaking after the game with former United team-mates Scholes and Rio Ferdinand, Hargreaves said: ‘I think the balance in midfield has been an issue all season. There’s no protection in there. 

‘Rio, if I was doing that, you would have moaned at me all game. “Why are you going up there? Why are you in the box? Why are you shooting? We’re 2-0 up”. The midfield balance has been an issue all season and that’s something they’ve got to fix.’

Scholes concurred, but suggested that Mainoo could provide that balance as he suits the holding midfielder role more than Sofyan Amrabat and Casemiro.

‘He can’t seem to get it right,’ Scholes added as he assessed Erik ten Hag’s midfield options.

Sofyan Amrabat has struggled to convince since joining on loan from Fiorentina in the summer

Scholes thinks Erik ten Hag is still trying to find the right balance in his United midfield

‘I think, ideally, he’s a very attacking manager and he’d like to just play one holding midfield player, and the rest of them go forward which is what he did at Ajax. 

‘But that one player they have in there, Amrabat, Mainoo possibly might be capable of doing that, of controlling games of football. We’ve seen glimpses of it again tonight when he came on. He came on at a very difficult time tonight, but he looks a man who could control games of football to me. 

‘I’m not sure Casemiro’s that type unless he’s got the right players around him. I think Owen’s right, getting the balance of the team, it’s been a big problem for him. 

‘Can he play the one, can he play the two (holding midfielders)? He’s struggled to really find a way of winning games and being dominant in games.’