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All change for Kobbie Mainoo at Man Utd as huge sack update emerges
Tom Weber
- Updated: 10 Nov 2025 15:43 GMT
- 5 min read
News
Napoli manager Antonio Conte is under increasing pressure after several poor results, and this could massively influence the future of Kobbie Mainoo at Manchester United.
The 20-year-old midfielder is desperate to leave Old Trafford on loan in the January transfer window after being forced to fight a losing battle by Ruben Amorim. The head coach wants Mainoo to compete with undroppable captain Bruno Fernandes for minutes.
Mainoo already requested a move in the summer, but Man Utd flat-out refused. So far, their stance has not changed, at least when it comes to a loan departure.
Current ETV
Kobbie Mainoo
M, DM (C)
Man Utd
Kobbie Mainoo
M, DM (C)
Man Utd
ETV Range
€56.4M - €69M
However, Serie A giants Napoli have repeatedly held talks with their Premier League counterparts in a bid to convince them to greenlight a temporary exit. The reigning Italian champions have made Mainoo their top target for the upcoming window.
Napoli need a midfielder as Kevin de Bruyne will be sidelined for months after suffering a bizarre hamstring injury, while Frank Anguissa is set to participate at AFCON with Cameroon from mid-December, potentially until mid-January.
Conte facing uncertain future
The main driver behind Napoli's interest in Mainoo is manager Antonio Conte. The Italian loves signing players from the Premier League, and he wants to make the youngster his next success story after Scott McTominay and Rasmus Hojlund.
However, Conte is now facing an uncertain future at the Stadio Maradona. Napoli's recent results have been less than satisfactory, and pressure is mounting.
Over the weekend, the reigning champions slipped from first to fourth in Serie A, while they only occupy the final playoff spot (24th) in the current Champions League table after a shocking 6-2 loss to PSV and a 0-0 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt.
On Sunday, Napoli succumbed to a 2-0 loss to Bologna despite the fact that their opponents played with a 17-year-old in goal for most of the match. Teenager Massimo Pessina managed to keep a clean sheet after coming in for the injured Lukasz Skorupski a few minutes into the match.
After the game, Conte launched a scathing tirade: “Surely I can't not be worried because five defeats since the start of the year are too many for a team that was labelled as one that should have crushed the league without effort,” he began.
Conte bemoaned his players' lack of effort and claimed that their mentality is a problem. “I don’t want to accompany the dead. If we want to get back on track and change the trend, fine. Otherwise, everyone must take responsibility, and I am the first to do so.”
“I will speak to the club about this aspect because I am perceiving things that I don’t like. This means that I am not doing a good job because I have not gotten into the players’ heads.
"I am the first one responsible, and I don’t know if the conditions exist to change this situation because we need to work on the players’ mentality.”
Matteo Moretto reports that a meeting between Conte and the club took place today, Monday, to analyse the current situation and to discuss the future. Gazzetta dello Sport claims that Conte retains the backing of club chiefs, but that could ultimately mean very little.
That is because it has been posited that Conte could quit the club. His relationship with president Aurelio de Laurentiis has always been frosty, and this was starkly demonstrated during Napoli's Scudetto celebrations, when the coach tried to avoid him at all costs.
The outspoken, calculating Conte has never made a secret of his grievances with the club hierarchy, often criticising them for lacking ambition in the transfer market. Although the signing of De Bruyne in the summer was a coup, Napoli struggled to secure other top targets.
It remains to be seen if the Conte project at Napoli has run its course or if the two parties can overcome their differences once again, as they did after the Scudetto success earlier in the year.
However, if they can't and Conte walks away or is sacked, it could change everything not only for Napoli but also for Mainoo, who would lose one of his biggest admirers ahead of a potentially career-defining transfer window.
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