‘An honour’ – Kobbie Mainoo reacts to first England call up

Manchester United midfielder Kobbie Mainoo had been part of the England U21s group but has been drafted into Gareth Southgate’s squad for the upcoming friendlies against Brazil and Belgium.

The late addition to the senior group follows an impressive performance against Liverpool in Sunday’s chaotic 4-3 win at Old Trafford.

Mainoo has taken to Instagram to react to the news.

He wrote: “It’s an honour to receive my first senior call-up.”

England manager Gareth Southgate praised Mainoo last week when addressing his initial decision to leave him out of the squad.

“I think Kobbie Mainoo is doing brilliantly for a young player,” Southgate said. “We’re never slow to put a young player into the seniors, but he’s only had a handful of games. You have to be careful in making those decisions at the right time, and ideally we should allow him the space to develop at his own speed.

“He’s not at the point in terms of number of games that Jude [Bellingham] or Bukayo [Saka] were when they first came in, but I repeat – he’s doing really well, he’s a good footballer, you can see that, and he’s getting some fabulous experience with Man Utd and looks a good character.”

After previously representing England at U17 and U19 level, this is another incredible milestone for Mainoo and we would like to wish him the best of luck ahead of his debut.

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