Kobbie Mainoo flew to the 2026 World Cup as England’s wild card. He came home without playing a single minute. And now one veteran manager is calling out Thomas Tuchel for how he handled it.
Neil Warnock didn’t hold back on talkSPORT ahead of the third-place match. He said Tuchel missed a real opportunity by keeping Mainoo glued to the bench, especially late in games when the United midfielder’s legs could have changed things.
“It will be interesting to see if he picks Mainoo,” Warnock said. “He was the type of lad that you needed in that last 25 minutes because he’s got the legs, he can hold it up, he can run with the ball.”
But Warnock saved his real frustration for something else. Tuchel had apparently mentioned in the press that Mainoo’s training wasn’t up to snuff. That didn’t sit right with Warnock at all.
“You don’t say that to the press. You tell the player,” Warnock said. “You put an arm around the player and say: ‘Look, you’re not training so good son, can you lift your percentage up?’ It’s totally unfair. Things like that should be kept inside the camp.”
The subtext here is pretty straightforward. Mainoo was barely in Tuchel’s plans back in January when the German was still figuring out his squad. But the 21-year-old forced his way onto the plane after a massive second half of the season at Manchester United under Michael Carrick.
Carrick took over from Ruben Amorim in January and immediately made Mainoo a centerpiece. The kid started 16 of 17 games, missed one with an injury, and helped drag United to a third-place Premier League finish. That form got him a ticket to the World Cup.
Then nothing. Not a minute. England finished third, Mainoo watched the whole thing from the bench.
There were whispers that Tuchel tested Mainoo alongside Elliot Anderson in training before the Ghana match, worried about Declan Rice’s fitness. But whatever he saw, it wasn’t enough to put the kid on the field.
To make things worse, Mainoo actually picked up a back injury in training on Friday. Tuchel confirmed it after England’s wild 6-4 win over France. So even the third-place game came and went without him.
Warnock questioned whether Tuchel would even risk playing Mainoo in that match, given how it would look if the kid balled out and made the manager look foolish. “Will he play him now, and then he has a fantastic game and make Tuchel look stupid? Or does he just not bother playing in case he has a good game?”
Mainoo’s World Cup was a dud. But it’s the kind of motivation that sticks. He’ll be back at United next season with something to prove, and Carrick knows exactly how to use him. Sometimes getting benched on the biggest stage is the push a player needs to take another leap.
Tuchel’s gone from the England job now. That part’s over. But Warnock’s point about how you handle a young player’s confidence — especially when you’re the national team manager — probably won’t fade as fast.
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