Kobbie Mainoo's meteoric rise at Manchester United can be measured by the fact that he will sign a third contract in as many years with the club this summer.

United’s willingness to reward Mainoo with new terms after his breakthrough season means he will be following a similar path to two other academy stars, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood.

The England midfielder signed his first professional deal shortly after his 17th birthday in May 2022 and another in February 2023 in keeping with FIFA regulations which limit the length of contracts for players under the age of 18.

Such has been Mainoo’s progress under Erik ten Hag this season that another new contract will follow at the end of the season, although both sides are so relaxed over the situation that no talks have taken place yet.

Greenwood signed his first professional contract in October 2018 and his third less than three years later in February 2021, while Rashford’s first three contracts spanned five years between July 2014 and July 2019.

Mainoo has made 25 appearances for United and could hit a total of 32 by the end of the season. Not bad for a young man who began the campaign playing for the club’s Under-21s in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy at Salford.

Kobbie Mainoo's meteoric rise at Man United is set to be be rewarded with a third new contract

Utd stars skip road to Wembley

It was almost midnight on Sunday when the Manchester United team bus reached the M6 toll road on the final leg of its journey back from Wembley, but the players were already at home in bed.

Such are the logistics of modern-day football, United flew back to Manchester from Luton Airport after their incredible 3-3 draw with Coventry City and penalty shootout win in the FA Cup semi-final, and landed at 10.30pm.

The bus was only used to ferry the players between the hotel, stadium and airport before returning to Manchester without any passengers late on Sunday night. It was conspicuous due to the heavy branding on the outside of the vehicle, which is always on display for games at Wembley.

With manager Eric ten Hag summoning his players in for training at 9am on Monday morning for recovery sessions ahead of Wednesday’s game against Sheffield United at Old Trafford, it was imperative to get the squad back to Manchester by air so they could sleep before returning to work.

Avram makes an awkward exit

One of the perks of Wembley from a media perspective is that all players and officials have to walk past assembled reporters on their way out to cars and buses.

While Marcus Rashford was in no mood to chat as he limped through, neither was majority owner Avram Glazer. Asked what the future holds for manager Erik ten Hag, Glazer was expressionless as he hot-footed to the exit.

No doubt he’ll have much more to say on the matter behind closed doors in the next few weeks.

Cup collapse came out of the blue

The way in which Coventry City fought back from three goals down to take a fragile United to the wire at Wembley suggested the Sky Blues had done their homework on Ten Hag’s team.

Copenhagen, Galatasaray, Wolves and Chelsea are examples of other occasions this season that United have inexplicably lost control of games they appeared to have in the bag, and Coventry staged the greatest comeback of all.

However, some officials from the Championship club clearly weren’t aware just how easily United can wobble. During the half-time interval at Wembley, with United 2-0 up and cruising, one staff member told Confidential: ‘We were never going to win this game anyway, so we can just enjoy it now as long as we don’t lose by four or five.’

After a 3-3 draw, extra-time, a 121st-minute Coventry goal ruled out by VAR and a penalty shootout that began with Casemiro aiming his effort straight at the keeper, Bernardo Silva style, said official was shaking his head along with the rest of us. United games are rarely dull but following Ten Hag’s side really should come with a health warning.

Haji goes down in his-toe-ry

Coventry's winning goal in the 1987 FA Cup final against Tottenham Hotspur is so etched into club folklore that supporters named a fanzine after it.

Keith Houchen’s diving header inevitably gets the most airtime – even to this day, and especially before the semi-final against United on Sunday – but the decisive goal in Coventry’s 3-2 win actually came off a Tottenham player. Hence the fanzine title Gary Mabbutt’s Knee.

After a scarcely believable climax at Wembley on Sunday when Coventry substitute Victor Torp snatched what he thought was a sensational winner in added time of extra-time, only to see it ruled out for a the most marginal of offsides against the man who provided the assist, maybe a change of name is in order. Haji Wright’s Toe certainly has a ring to it.

Utd setting their sights on Sverre

It was mentioned in this column last week that United are keeping a close eye on Brazilian starlet Gustavinho, in a nod to a shift in transfer strategy to bring the average age of the team down. Well, keep an eye also on young Norwegian Sverre Nypan.

Confidential understands that the 17-year-old central midfielder, who plays for Rosenborg, is well liked by United and is seen as a potential target as they overhaul the side.

Norway has a great track record of player development with Erling Haaland and Oscar Bobb thriving at Man City, and Martin Odegaard excelling at Arsenal.

Midfield is a particular area of long-term concern for United with Casemiro and Christian Eriksen both approaching the end of their time at Old Trafford, and question marks as to whether Scott McTominay will remain given his potential sale value after a strong season.

Fans want ticket rule relaxed

United are coming under increasing pressure to change a controversial ticketing rule which has sparked anger among fans.

Season ticket holders must attend 17 of the 19 home games in the 2024-25 campaign or risk losing their seat at Old Trafford. The number was 14 for this season, although forwarding to an official member, donating the cost of the ticket to the Manchester United Foundation or using the club’s buy-back scheme counts towards that figure.

It was one of the main topics discussed during the latest meeting of the Fans’ Forum on Thursday, attended by senior executives as well as supporter representatives. Confidential understands club officials at the meeting were open to reducing the minimum attendance requirement from 17 but it remains to be seen whether they do so ahead of the new season.

Before the meeting, The 1958 – the fans group behind the recent spate of anti-Glazer protests - urged the forum to get the rule scrapped and claimed the club were trying to ‘cull season ticket holders’.

‘At a time match-goers across PL clubs are being treated with disdain,’ they said, ‘our [Fans’ Forum] reps need to set an example.’

Utd’s new trick to beat touts

United are rolling out a fresh set of changes to their ticketing system in the latest attempt to clamp down on touts.

Fans will continue to access their digital tickets via their app, but the tickets will now be locked to the device they are using. Additionally, the QR codes that fans have to scan to enter the ground will be hidden until three hours before kick-off.

The club informed selected season ticket holders of the new policy via email on Monday. ‘This means you, and more importantly other people won’t be able to access your tickets on another device,’ the email read.

The new system will be implemented from next season, but United have asked a number of fans to trial it over their four remaining home games this term.

While the club insist the move is part of their drive to eradicate the unauthorised passing-on of tickets, the latest development is likely to prove highly controversial with supporters.

Wilcox’s postal plea launched career

New technical director Jason Wilcox started work at Carrington on Monday having watched the FA Cup semi-final from the Royal Box at Wembley where United had five teenagers – Omari Forson, Harry Amass, Ethan Wheatley, Habeeb Ogunneye and Louis Jackson – on the bench.

One of Wilcox’s responsibilities will be to work with the academy to maintain the steady flow of young talent to the first team, and it’s safe to say the route to the top will be more straightforward than when he was an aspiring professional footballer.

When Wilcox was rejected by Manchester City as a teenager, his dad wrote to every club in the north-west asking to give his son a chance. They got a reply from Blackburn’s youth-team coach Jim Furnell and Wilcox spent the next 12 years at Ewood Park, winning the Premier League title in 1995.

‘I was coming up to my exams at school when my dad decided to write off to all the north west clubs,’ he recalled in an interview in 1999. ‘He wrote about 30 letters and I got just one reply, from Blackburn. I went down for a trial on the Sunday morning, signed on Monday evening, and the following week I was playing in the Youth Cup Final.’

United fans can only hope the youth system is a little more refined when Wilcox reunites with the club’s new chief executive Omar Berrada, his old chief football operations officer at Manchester City, and joins force with sporting director Dan Ashworth as part of the new set-up under Ineos.

Ratcliffe running low on patience

Lore Coe has chaired the first meeting of a taskforce put together to explore options for regenerating Old Trafford, and United’s chief operating officer Collette Roche has travelled to Madrid to see how the Bernabeu has been pimped up, but it would appear that Sir Jim Ratcliffe is getting impatient to build his Wembley of the North.

Despite completing the London Marathon in a personal best of 4hrs 32mins and 52secs before racing to Wembley for the second half of the semi-final on Sunday, Ratcliffe still had enough air in his lungs to tell the BBC’s Gabby Logan that he would like to build a new stadium from scratch.

‘I’d love to do that. If we can do that it would be fantastic for the north of England,’ he said. ‘I think that whole area of South Manchester, it was where the industrial revolution began. That’s why they built Old Trafford there because the workers who finished their shift could walk to the ground, there was no public transport or anything. It was where the industry of manufacturing began in the world, it’s a really important area but it’s rundown, so to regenerate that area and build a Wembley of the North I think would be a marvellous project if we could achieve it.’

United have backed Ratcliffe’s vision to bulldoze Old Trafford and build a new stadium at a cost of roughly £2billion, but redeveloping the stadium at half that price remains a viable alternative.

Access success for OT

Confidential likes to stick up for Old Trafford in the face of critics who never miss a chance to knock it down – not literally, Sir Jim – and there is further evidence that the old place might not be quite as shabby as it seems.

A survey of disabled access at stadiums across the UK by casino.com has Old Trafford No.7 based on the number of accessible seating areas, car parks, toilets, lifts, wheelchair rentals, shuttle buses and walking distance from the nearest public transport.

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium came in first followed by Wembley, the Principality Stadium, Celtic Park, Goodison Park and Pride Park. The full table can be viewed here – https://www.casino.com/ca/accessible-venue-index/

How Cole became butt of the joke

Andy “Andrew” Cole, inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame this week, was always a hugely popular figure at United with the Class of ‘92 and Sir Alex Ferguson despite having a reputation in the wider football world of being a little aloof.

Cole himself roars with laughter at the time he asked the holidaying Nicky Butt to pop into the house he (Cole) owned in The Algarve to check everything was okay. He was then startled to receive a text that he’d had burglars – accompanied by a picture of his midfield teammate spread stark naked on one of his sofas.

When Cole's son Devante, also a striker, was looking for a club, Fergie took time to personally let his contacts in the game know, a sign of respect for his Treble winner whose dad was a miner. Now Cole's great week could have a happy ending. Devante's current club Barnsley are hoping to book a play-off place in League One this weekend.

Ro-Shaun eyes title party

Marcus Rashford's party pal Ro-Shaun Williams is set to end an interesting season on a high note with his club Larne all but clinching the Northern Ireland title with a 1-1 draw against rivals Linfield on Monday night.

It was Rashford's visit to Belfast to see Williams – a former United academy teammate – that drew unwanted headlines and saw the England striker punished by Erik ten Hag earlier this season, though the irony is Williams wasn't present for his second night out clubbing in the Ulster capital.

Larne have a three-point advantage over Linfield with one game left, but a superior goal difference of 17 means they won't be caught.

U18s challenge at the double

One of the big pushes at Carrington has been to sell out the Under-18s Premier League Cup final tonight against Man City.

Tickets for the Leigh Sports Village clash were made freely available, and it’s understood the call to arms from Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho – two academy graduates who are now key figures in the first team – massively helped in edging towards a sell-out.

Adam Lawrence’s side are looking to achieve a league and cup double, but with United’s first-team in action on Wednesday night against Sheffield United, it remains to be seen who will be at his disposal.

The likes of Harry Amass, 17, and Ethan Wheatley, 18, have both been part of the first team matchday squads in recent weeks and may need to be held back for the visit of the Blades.

Academy awaits graduate No.250

At 3-0 up at Wembley, there was growing belief that Erik ten Hag was ready to hand out the 250th debut to an academy graduate. In the end it was a blessing for those youngsters that they weren’t thrown into the lion’s den.

But there is growing optimism that one of Amass, Wheatley, Louis Jackson or Habeeb Ogunneye, all of whom have been on the first team bench of late, could get their chance in the next two games, with Sheffield United at Old Trafford followed by Burnley at home.

Ten Hag has been working with a whole host of U18 and U21 players in training for a number of months now, and with injuries piling up – there have been 60 separate incidents of injury or illness this season – the time for a 250th academy graduate cracking the first team has never seemed closer.