Manchester United midfielder Kobbie Mainoo has the backing of Rio Ferdinand after recent performances have revived his Old Trafford career

Rio Ferdinand has highlighted how Kobbie Mainoo’s performances since getting back into the Manchester United line-up under Michael Carrick disproves a theory Roy Keane aired about the midfielder earlier in the campaign.

Before Carrick had been appointed as United’s interim head coach until the end of the season, Mainoo had not started in the Premier League at all in 2025/26. This has now changed with starts in all four victories since the 44-year-old took the Old Trafford hot seat, and a new contract is on the cards.

Underlining the 20-year-old’s resurgence, he completed 33 of 35 attempted final-third passes during Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur, leading the Premier League in this statistic for the weekend.

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This particularly area of Mainoo’s abilities that had once been questioned by previous United manager Ruben Amorim, as had the England international’s work ethic by United legend Keane.

Last October as Mainoo was named on the bench for United’s win over Liverpool at Anfield, Keane told Sky Sports: “It obviously seems to be a problem for Mainoo getting into this team.

“The word coming out is they don’t think he can cover the ground that quickly, but if you look at Man Utd’s other midfielders they’ve got, they’re not great at that either.

“As a young player, he has to suck that up and work hard, and when he gets a chance, he has to take it.

“A young player with good potential cannot be guaranteed a place in United’s team. But it will come down to the player himself. Your job every day, every week, is to make sure the manager puts you in the team.

“If the manager deep down doesn’t fancy him? I don’t know. We will find that out in the next few weeks. Because if he doesn’t fancy him, he might have to move him on.”

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Fast-forward to the present day, and fellow United legend Ferdinand believes the young midfielder’s effort in training should never have been a source of debate.

“We asked the question. ‘Is he working? Is he doing what the manager is asking him? Is he putting physical mileage on the training ground?’ There’s no doubt in my mind that you run the amount that he has; it’s concrete that he was working when he wasn’t in the team,” the former defender said, speaking on his Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast.

“The tank is empty at 60 minutes, you are on the floor when you haven’t been playing for a while, and then you start. He must be doing some real work. I tip my hat to Kobbie Mainoo.”

Also wading in on the subject after United’s fourth consecutive Premier League victory was Gary Lineker, who went as far to jest Mainoo should consider taking legal action again his former boss Amorim.

“He’s taken a year out of that kid’s career. This kid is a wonderful footballer,” Lineker told The Rest is Football podcast.

“God, he makes it look so easy. He wants the ball, he receives it with anyone around him and he turns, always makes the right decisions, he’s graceful.

“I mean, come on! He’s been absolutely detrimental to his career.”

A former Premier League icon has recalled his encounter with Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand

David Bentley has claimed his memorable hat-trick against Manchester United sparked a nightclub encounter with Rio Ferdinand. The 41-year-old was instrumental for Blackburn Rovers in a 4-3 victory over United at Ewood Park in February 2006.

The former Arsenal prospect had begun the campaign on loan at Blackburn under Mark Hughes. The then-21-year-old made his transfer permanent during the January window, completing the move just before facing United.

Rovers surged to a 3-1 lead in the opening 45 minutes. Bentley broke the deadlock by converting a rebound from a free-kick and later restored his team’s lead by capitalising on Ferdinand’s misjudged header following a mix-up with goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. Lucas Neill’s spot-kick completed the first-half scoring.

After the interval, Bentley demonstrated his talent with a swerving half-volley into the far corner. Despite Ruud van Nistelrooy grabbing two goals, Sir Alex Ferguson’s men couldn’t rescue a draw, with a red card for Ferdinand adding to their woes. Bentley claims a joke he made at Ferdinand’s expense after the match later led to a nightclub confrontation.

“It was Rio, wasn’t it, I said something. You know what, there’s a story about that. So Rio headed it on to Van Der Sar and I nipped in,” Bentley told Clutch 9 Powered by Betway.

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“My agent Rob Segal, he’d set up a Sky interview for the day after. That’s what they do, don’t they, get you out there. I’d said a joke about Rio but he got the right hump! Me and him had a little bit of a square up in a nightclub in Manchester over it.

“He didn’t like it because he thought I’d disrespected him. I went, ‘I just want to say thanks to Rio, nice little flick-on.’ He got the hump. Everyone used to be in this same nightclub and he came up and we had a little bit of a dance around for a bit.”

Astonishingly, that hat-trick proved to be Bentley’s only league goals for the entire campaign, yet he remained instrumental as Blackburn secured sixth place and qualification for the UEFA Cup. United, meanwhile, finished runners-up to Chelsea, trailing Jose Mourinho’s side by eight points.

The winger was impressive for Blackburn across the following two seasons. England manager Steve McClaren dubbed Bentley the “new David Beckham”, though the Rovers star had to wait for his senior international bow after controversially pulling out of U21 duty.

Consequently, Bentley faced jeers from sections of the England support when he earned his first cap as a substitute against Israel. Yet, it was Ferdinand who stepped up to defend the winger.

“We had such a good performance and everyone was quite happy but what happened with David left a bad taste in the mouth,” Ferdinand said. “The lad is on England duty and you don’t expect him to get booed, no matter what has happened in the past.

“In some quarters, people might say what he did in the summer was a wrong decision but in hindsight, it is easy to say that. He is a young lad, on a learning curve, making his seniors debut for England and he did not deserve to be booed.”

Bentley secured a high-profile switch to Tottenham Hotspur in 2008 but struggled to replicate his previous form in north London, ultimately being displaced by Aaron Lennon. The seven-cap England international subsequently had temporary spells at various clubs, including Birmingham City, West Ham United and Russian side Rostov.

He returned briefly to Rovers during the 2012/13 campaign, making seven appearances for the Championship outfit. Bentley was released by Spurs at the end of that season and announced his retirement a year later, aged 29.