Man United star Harry Maguire reveals his reaction after first seeing Kobbie Mainoo train and compares him to a current England midfield star

Harry Maguire has revealed what he first told his team-mate when he saw Kobbie Mainoo training with the Manchester United first team.

Mainoo has emerged as one of the country’s most promising young midfielders after a brilliant breakthrough season at Old Trafford, where he has become a key part of Erik ten Hag’s side.

The teenager has made 20 senior appearances for the Red Devils this term and scored one of the Premier League goals of the season against Wolves to win the game in stoppage time earlier in the campaign.

Since then, he has continued to flourish and even earned a first ever England senior call-up from Gareth Southgate, and is now in line to play a role in the upcoming friendlies with Brazil (Saturday) and Belgium (Tuesday) at Wembley.

So prodigious is his talent that he apparently made a lasting impression on Maguire on his first foray into Man United senior training, with the defender revealing what he said to Tom Heaton.

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“I’ve been a big fan of Kobbies since he started training with us,” he admitted.

‘I remember talking to Tom Heaton about him and I said: “I feel this boy has got everything”.

‘He can handle the ball brilliantly. He’s really strong, powerful and you can see his development to play that No.6 role, especially for United.

The ‘six’ role is a big responsibility and I’m sure the positional part of his game will improve drastically.’

Having emerged earlier in the season, he has since provided healthy competition to established world stars Casemiro and Christian Eriksen in the middle of the park.

Mainoo has since been added to England’s squad by Gareth Southgate, who joined the rest of the squad earlier this week ahead of Saturday’s clash with Brazil.

And Maguire paid Mainoo a huge compliment when he compared him to one of his new midfield mates with the Three Lions.

‘You’ve seen the amount of ability and talent he has and he fully deserves his call-up. A role and responsibility for the senior players at Manchester United is to bring academy players through.

‘I wasn’t worried about Kobbie.

– It is unbelievable that he is only 18, he is so mature. He is a bit like Jude (Bellingham) when he was a young boy. He has a mature head on his shoulders.

‘I see day in and day out his ability to train. I have congratulated him, he really deserves this. He has been excellent for us this season.’

Should Mainoo bow out for England in this round of internationals, he will become the 14th male player this century to do so before turning 19.