Darren Fletcher has provided a promising update on Manchester United star Kobbie Mainoo, who is edging closer to a return from injury after missing the festive period.
Manchester United sacked Ruben Amorim on Monday morning, with Darren Fletcher moving into the hot seat for Wednesday night’s trip to Burnley in the Premier League.
Amorim paid the price for a topsy-turvy first half to the 2025/26 campaign, with United currently sitting 6th in the league table.
Name the player you are most excited to see play under Darren Fletcher in his opening game in charge….
Fletcher, who doesn’t know how long he will be interim manager, will be aiming to get off to a flying start with three points.
That means the former United midfielder will be tasked with selecting the team to face Burnley. He provided updates on the availability of Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount, but kept his tactics close to his chest.
Kobbie Mainoo in contention to return against Burnley
The fallout of Amorim’s sacking at United continues, but Fletcher took a respectful approach when discussing his departed colleague.
There will be players who are happy to see the back of Amorim, too.
Mainoo’s game time became limited when Amorim started overlooking the young midfield ace, opting to prefer a pivot of Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes.
The England international will be hoping that Amorim’s dismissal leads to more game time, but Mainoo must recover from injury before he can embark on a run of games.
Mainoo has made 12 appearances thus far this season, but he has yet to start in the Premier League. That needs to change if Mainoo wants to compete for a place in the England squad for this summer’s World Cup.
After missing the last four games due to a calf injury, Fletcher confirmed that Mainoo is in contention to return to the squad to face Burnley. The caretaker boss also confirmed that he has been focusing on Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko.
Darren Fletcher drops a huge update for Man Utd duo Mason Mount and Bruno Fernandes 🗣️🎙️
Will either Mason Mount OR Bruno Fernandes start for Man Utd in the Premier League clash at Turf Moor? 🤔
United will assess Mainoo today before making a final decision on his availability. The 20-year-old returned to training this week, although Fletcher has been mindful of rushing him back.
“Kobbie actually did a part of the session today, but he’s going to have to be assessed tomorrow. So that was part of the plan, he’ll be assessed tomorrow,” Fletcher told reporters on Tuesday.
“I have had conversations with players and it’s been time-consuming. I actually planned to have more conversations but yeah, maybe first time experiencing a first day as Manchester United manager, you don’t have as much time as you think. In my head I had all these plans about speaking to loads of players and it didn’t pan out that way.
“I had a conversation with Bruno, and that’s important because he’s the captain and I wanted to speak to him, and actually I focused on some of the players I don’t know so well, so Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko.
“Senne Lammens I actually had a conversation with him not too long ago, but those two I focused on because I’ve not really got a relationship with them and I wanted to get to know them and I wanted them to get to know me.
“So the others, I know well. I’ve had a relationship with them in the past, so I focused on those two and Bruno. As gametime gets closer tomorrow, there will be some individual chats and meetings and
just chatting to them in general around the canteen and around the training ground, I think it’s really important.”
Darren Fletcher assessment of Man Utd squad
It’s been a crazy week for the United first team.
Fletcher is aware of how departures can impact the dressing room, and he feels there’s a mixture of confident players and others who are not.
A win over Burnley would help lift the dressing room.
Fletcher added: “I think [with] confidence, everyone is at a different stage in confidence and that’s a really important part of football, but you see players coming back from injury who have missed games, they’re going to be in a certain state of mind. You’ve got players who are playing well, you’ve got other players who are not playing so well, so confidence is up and down.
“I think you can see, you know, nobody likes to see somebody lose their job. You could sense that in the building yesterday, but today you have to move on very, very quickly, and it’s important that we have a good energy going into the game.
“We can’t be going into the Burnley game with not a good energy. It’s important that you have to move on very, very quickly. Football is a cruel game, it’s life, it’s football, so it’s important we try to create a little bit of energy, little bit of spirit and I think we got that today and hopefully there’s more of it again tomorrow.”
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