Featured Image Credit: England/The Rest Is Football
Topics: Kobbie Mainoo, England, Gary Lineker, Football
Nasir Jabbar
Topics: Kobbie Mainoo, England, Gary Lineker, Football
Gary Lineker's tweet about Kobbie Mainoo being called up to Gareth Southgate's England squad has gone viral.
Mainoo was originally omitted from England's 25-man squad for their upcoming friendly matches against Brazil and Belgium.
He was instead named in England's under-21 squad to face Azerbaijan and Luxembourg.
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But following his impressive performance for Manchester United against Liverpool in the FA Cup, Southgate made a U-turn.
On Tuesday, Southgate surprisingly named Mainoo in his squad, taking his party from a 25-man group to 26.
It comes just days after the 18-year-old produced a brilliant showing in the middle of the park in his side's dramatic 4-3 victory over Liverpool at Old Trafford last Sunday.
Liverpool fans on social media expressed their anger at Mainoo's call-up as they believe one of their own stars should've been named instead.
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But Lineker reckons Southgate has made the right decision in calling up Mainoo.
On X, he wrote: "Much deserved and a good decision by Gareth Southgate."
Mainoo, who's also eligible to represent Ghana, could make his senior England debut on Saturday when they host Brazil at Wembley Stadium.
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Speaking before calling him up, Southgate revealed the reason behind the star player's omission from the England squad.
"I think that he's doing brilliantly for a young player and we're never slow to put a young player into seniors," he said when the England squad was initially announced. "But he's only had a handful of games and you have to be very careful development-wise in making those decisions at the right time.
"So we think ideally, we should allow him that space to develop at his own speed. He's not at the point in terms of number of games that Jude (Bellingham) and Bukayo (Saka) were when they came in for the first time.
"But I repeat: he's doing really well for a young player. He's a good footballer - you can see that. And he's getting some fabulous experience with Manchester United at the moment. And he looks a really good character."