Fabrizio Romano blames Bruno Fernandes for Kobbie Mainoo transfer request

Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Bruno Fernandes‘ status in the Man Utd team was the reason Kobbie Mainoo wanted to leave the club on loan this summer.

Mainoo was desperate to depart Old Trafford this summer on a temporary loan for the 2025-26 season.

In the end, the transfer did not come about with FootballTransfers revealing that Man Utd’s decision to not move him on also infuriated manager Ruben Amorim.

And Romano has explained that the reason why Mainoo wanted out was because comments from Amorim made it clear to him that he was never going to get game time this season while Bruno Fernandes was available.

What did Romano say?

“Kobbie wanted to go,” Romano said on the Here We Go podcast.

“He wanted to go on loan. He didn’t want to leave permanently but he didn’t want to spend the season on the bench.

“Kobbie was really disappointed after the game against Fulham when he played zero minutes and Amorim said that Kobbie could play but that Bruno Fernandes is the starter.

“So Kobbie felt that if Bruno is going to start all the games – which he will as he is the captain and symbol of the team – then he didn’t want to be on the bench.

“So Kobbie wanted to go away, play 38 games, be a regular starter, develop and wanted to play the World Cup in one year – then return to man Utd as a stronger player.

“Man Utd said there was no chance and rejected the move. The decision even involved the owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.”

The England midfielder was an unused substitute in both of Man Utd’s opening two Premier League fixtures of the new campaign versus Arsenal and Fulham. He came on as a half time substitute in the 3-2 win over Burnley and also started the EFL Cup defeat to Grimsby.

FootballTransfers exclusively reported days before the transfer window closed that Brighton were weighing up the potential of an ambitious bid for the 20-year-old.

The Athletic claimed that Mainoo preferred a move abroad, with Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen all interested.

Speaking after Man Utd’s 1-1 draw versus Fulham, Amorim admitted: “He’s (Mainoo) fighting for the position now with Bruno, and I changed two midfielders.

“I let Mason Mount [play] there because we want to score a goal and when I changed I felt the team needed to return to one holding midfielder near Bruno.

“So he just needs to fight for the position with Bruno, as [it] should be at Manchester United. [Sometimes] he’s going to play with Bruno, but at the moment he’s fighting in training with Bruno for the position.”

Mainoo has made 74 appearances for Man Utd since his senior debut in 2022-23 and has also been capped 10 times by England, playing at Euro 2024.

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