On Tuesday, Kobbie Mainoo was getting ready to travel to Baku when he received an order to remain in Burton-on-Trent.

Manchester United’s budding star has been elevated to train with the adults at St George’s Park and is anticipating a possible full international debut against Brazil at Wembley on Saturday, rather than representing England Under 21s in a distant Azerbaijan Euro 2025 qualifier.

Mainoo has therefore advanced quickly into a different phase of his football career. The charming young man from Stockport, who won’t turn 19 until next month, is by this point fairly used to it.

In his brief career, he has overcome every challenge thrown at him by a considerable margin. After a breakthrough season in which he adapted into United’s first squad with ease, Erik ten Hag now selects him without hesitation. He shouldn’t have any trouble going to England or Brazil, either.

Mainoo’s unwavering calmness both on and off the field, coupled with his humility, set him apart from many other players his age.

While the first-team players park their fleet of sports cars at the back of United’s training field, he still parks near the front. This season, he may have upgraded to a club-issue Mercedes A-Class and BMW 4×4.

Then, despite making his debut in the Carabao Cup against Charlton a year earlier, Mainoo has only recently acquired a locker in the senior dressing room, so he must go the considerable distance through the building to get there.

After training, when many of the players head out of Carrington, Mainoo has lunch virtually daily with teammate and close friend Alejandro Garnacho, with whom he rose through the Under 18s.

Another sign that he is unlikely to succumb to the champagne lifestyle any time soon is the fact that his favorite food is rice and peas and his favorite beverage is water. A unique delight is Nando’s.

Though his mother Abina and father Felix separated after he was born in Stockport in 2005, those close to the player claim he was raised in a loving and stable environment in Cheadle Hulme, south of Manchester, as the son of Ghanaian immigrants.

While he still lives at both homes, Kobbie (his father corrects anyone who pronounces it Kobe, as in Bryant) was raised in both homes and is anticipated to move into his own shortly. He is the half-brother of Jordan Mainoo-Hames, a former Love Island competitor and Felix’s son from a previous relationship. He has two sisters, Ama and Efia.

Mainoo’s parents alternated dropping him off when United noticed him playing for Cheadle & Gatley and brought him to their development centre at Moss Side as an Under 6.

Initially, Mainoo was a striker who also played as a No. 10 and on the wing. It’s incredible that he didn’t switch to midfield until the 2021–22 campaign, when he and Garnacho lifted the FA Youth Cup with United, the young Argentine stealing the show while Mainoo composedly controlled the midfield.

I’m picking up skills at work! Jokes about Mainoo.

He attracted interest from several rival academies at Failsworth and even paid a visit to Manchester City, but United was his boyhood team, and he made a commitment to them at the age of eight. He started playing in bigger age groups after that, making his Under 18s debut at the age of 15.

He attended St. James’ Catholic High School and Cheadle Catholic Junior School before transferring to Ashton-on-Mersey School as a beneficiary of United’s scholarship program.

According to Nick Cox, head of United’s academy, “we normally don’t put players into that program until we’re confident they’re definitely going to be a scholar with us because we don’t want to take them away from their communities and their mates for no reason.”

“Kobbie was among the youngest students to enter that program, having entered at the age of eleven in Year 7.” Although he and Kobbie are the outliers to the trend, Marcus Rashford followed suit.

Kobbie was exactly the same as he is now when he was a little boy. He was and still is a modest, jovial, fun-loving person who never seeks attention for himself.

“Everyone on his team adores him.” He has a steely focus and intensity, yet he is also incredibly humble, respectful, and laid back.

He’s always had a really endearing combination of confidence off the field and genuine humility on it. I wish I could say that we instilled that trait in him. We didn’t. That’s how he was raised. He is still the same.