Ruben Amorim’s final months as Manchester United head coach often saw him comment on how quickly things can change in football. Players could move up and down his hierarchy for selection; injuries, illnesses or suspensions could be viewed as opportunities for fringe players to step into the starting XI.
The greatest change of the 2025-26 season at United appears to have come since his January departure. In nine matches under interim replacement Michael Carrick, they have gone from Europa League-qualification contenders to being favourites to finish in the (almost guaranteed) top five spots needed to be playing Champions League football in the autumn.
Carrick and his coaching staff have brought an improvement in form and club morale. It has also brought about changes in the England camp, with head coach Thomas Tuchel naming Kobbie Mainoo and Harry Maguire — who, The Athletic has revealed, are closing in on new contracts with United — in his latest squad on Friday. Not counting the out-on-loan Marcus Rashford, this is the first time Tuchel has called up any United players in his 15-month tenure.
Tuchel’s decision to name a 35-strong squad this time gives him — and his players — greater freedom. Ten of the 35 won’t join up with the rest of the group until after England have faced Uruguay in the first of their two games in this international break. There is a strong chance Tuchel will use that fixture at Wembley a week today to test players who have been on the fringes of his previous squads.
For Maguire and Mainoo, this will be their best chance to convince the England boss to include them in his World Cup squad this summer. They are among 13 players in this squad who were not part of Tuchel’s previous selection for the November window.
Mainoo during the Euro 2024 final against Spain (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Across 2025, both toiled in a United team described as “maybe the worst” in club history by Amorim. The then United head coach’s adherence to a tactical plan revolving around a 3-4-3 formation suited some parts of Maguire’s game but disrupted other areas.
The now 33-year-old’s partnership with John Stones, 32 in May, is one of England’s most successful centre-back pairings at tournaments, but it appeared the sun had set on both men’s international careers. Maguire did not make Gareth Southgate’s squad for the 2024 European Championship, and then lost further ground to Marc Guehi, Dan Burn, Ezri Konsa and others in Tuchel’s thinking as the following year went on.
Midfielder Mainoo was a surprise element in England’s Euro 2024 campaign; untested during the group stage but impressive in their knockout route to the final despite being just 19 years old.
His performances at that tournament formed a repeated line of questioning to Amorim across 2025. Football fans, journalists, and other media commentators wanted to know why the United coach believed a player who looked so capable for his country had become an afterthought for his club. Amorim, in his typical style, was candid about what he believed were Mainoo’s weaker points, but attempted to remain encouraging of his talents.
“He’s going to be the future of Manchester United, that is my feeling,” he said in late December. “He just needs to wait for his chance. Everything can change in football in two days.”
Yet the head coach wanted the 20-year-old to work on his positioning both as a defensive midfielder and a box-to-box player. Amorim viewed Mainoo as being in direct competition with United’s captain Bruno Fernandes for a role in his starting XI.
When England played Serbia and Albania in November, the common consensus was that Mainoo would use the winter transfer window to explore a loan away from United. The academy graduate wanted to restart his career and believed his boyhood club were no longer the best place for him.
Laurence Griffiths/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
The situation for both players changed quickly following Amorim’s surprise dismissal in the first week of January.
Caretaker appointment Darren Fletcher and now interim head coach Carrick have entrusted Maguire to be a penalty-box defender within a back four. Carrick and his staff have simplified team instruction compared to what came before under Amorim. Across the United’s past nine fixtures, they work against the ball in a compact 4-4-2 shape where Maguire focuses on man-marking strikers, making headers and going about his duties with a no-nonsense aplomb.
His quiet leadership could be a boon to an England dressing room in need of veteran experience. If Maguire earns an eventual call-up for the World Cup squad, it will be his fourth major tournament. Few centre-backs in Tuchel’s 35-man squad will have played in as many important games. Fewer still can hit a penalty with his decisive authority.
Tuchel may opt to play him instead of Guehi at the heart of defence, or indeed field them together as a new duo. For England, Maguire is dependable. Consistent. Formidable. A player worth including in future squads — health permitting.
Carrick’s interregnum has also seen Mainoo go from competing with Fernandes for a place in a midfield two to complementing him in a deeper role next to Casemiro in a midfield three. The two veterans provide creative passing and defensive solidity, as he works as a press-resistant shuttler.
Amorim was correct in his assessment of Mainoo. Yet he still holds great value, and the chances he has been given under Carrrick have seen him re-emerge as a midfield stabiliser, with a composure that few players his age can match. When a game gets too chaotic or too slow, United and England players can feed the ball to Mainoo, knowing he can help control the game.
The role next to Declan Rice in England’s midfield has been hotly contested for more than two years. Mainoo was a surprise candidate for the position at Euro 2024. Now it looks like Elliot Anderson. Mainoo’s challenge will be to present himself as an alternative.
Maguire played in the European Championship final five years ago. Mainoo did so in 2024. Their return to the England picture has been as quick as their previous fading away from it.
At the turn of the year, they seized an opportunity to change their playing fortunes for the better. If both men can sustain a high level as this Premier League season reaches its end, their revivals could be completed with places at the World Cup.