Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has stressed his desire to keep hold of midfielder Kobbie Mainoo in the face of surprise interest from Chelsea.

With speculation of stalling contract negotiations beginning to build, Chelsea were named as shock suitors for Mainoo earlier this week. The latest reports suggest the Blues would be open to a January transfer, with United valuing the 19-year-old at around £70m.

United’s determination to avoid sanctions for breaching Profit and Sustainability Rules has seen them decide that no player is untouchable, while Mainoo’s status as an academy graduate, whose sale would generate pure profit, has fuelled talk of a shock exit from Old Trafford.

As far as Amorim is concerned, he wants to keep hold of Mainoo, whose contract runs until 2027 and includes a one-year extension clause.

Asked directly about Mainoo in his latest press conference, Amorim told reporters: “Yeah, my players are always my favourites. So I really love my players, I want to keep my players, especially the talented ones.

“It’s a special moment in this club, it’s a hard moment, I am really happy with Kobbie, he is improving, and also with Garna [Alejandro Garnacho].

“The first thing I think I don’t remember saying clearly that I want new players. What I said is sometimes the profile for this system is different and the players came here with a different idea how to play. I don’t remember saying so clearly that I want new players.

“What I said is that we need to improve recruitment when we are targeting players, we need to be sure they will cope with the demands, sometimes you have to bet a little bit. And what I said also is we have to improve our academy, to bring in young kids that feel the club in the right way and with that rules we are able to do some business and to have money to invest in the team.

“Our idea is always to keep the best players and the players that we build for this club but we know the position the club is in at the moment. We will see. But I’m very happy. I really like the players, especially the guys from the academy.”

Crucially, United have no active desire to sell Mainoo and remain keen to end the speculation with a new contract. The teenager currently earns around £20,000 per week and it was recently claimed that United’s failure to meet his £200,000-a-week demands had left him frustrated.

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