Mainoo trains hard in Spain, trying to earn a start position in EPL

Kobbie Mainoo has been training hard during the international break to show Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim he deserves to be handed a first Premier League start this season.

Kobbie Mainoo will return to Manchester United training today with renewed hunger to show boss Ruben Amorim he is worthy of a first Premier League start of the season.

United's players not involved on international duty were given Friday, Saturday and Sunday off, and told to report back for training to begin the build-up to the weekend trip to arch rivals Liverpool.

Mainoo is among those United players not required by his country during the international break, an unthinkable scenario 16 months ago when he started England's Euro 2024 final defeat to Spain.

But Mainoo's continued England exile is a measure of just how far he has fallen since scoring and starring in United's FA Cup final win over Manchester City last year and starting that 2-1 defeat for the Three Lions in Berlin's Olympic Stadium seven weeks later.

While some of United's players not representing their countries have taken the time off for some rest and recuperation, escaping to the sun before reporting back for duty tomorrow, Mainoo has made no secret of the fact he has been working hard on his strength and conditioning during his down time.

Mainoo has been put through his paces by a fitness team at Complejo Deportivo Arroyo, Enmedio, a fitness centre and sports complex in the Spanish town of Estepona, posting to his 3.3million followers on Instagram pictures and videos of himself working out and pushing himself to the limit.

The motivation for posting such content is clear – Mainoo and his camp want the world to see just how hard he is training and that he is doing everything he can to force his way into boss Ruben Amorim's plans and earn his way back into United's starting line-up.

But the brutal reality for Mainoo seems to be that however many posts he uploads of himself working on his fitness, he is simply not trusted by Amorim to start a game, and with fixtures in short supply given United's failure to qualify for Europe and EFL Cup exit at League Two Grimsby, his exile is likely to continue.Against that backdrop, it will come as little surprise if Mainoo makes a fresh request to go out on loan in the January transfer window, by which time the World Cup will be just six months away, with time running out for the 20-year-old to force his way into Thomas Tuchel's squad.

Tuchel's reluctance to pick Mainoo, despite the midfielder's undeniable talent, is understandable, for he cannot select players who are not playing regularly for their clubs, despite past exploits for England. Therein lies the problem for Mainoo – he has become an outcast for club and country, his career in limbo while Amorim remains in charge and refuses to trust him to start a game.

The only solution to Mainoo's plight is Amorim leaving or United allowing him to leave on loan in the new year. Neither scenario seems likely, given Sir Jim Ratcliffe's recent insistence that Amorim needs time and United's previous decision to turn down Mainoo's loan request.

In that sense, there seems to be no escape for Mainoo from his current predicament, a bleak situation for such a bright talent.