Maina wanted by Man United’s Mourinho
Football
By
Chrisphine Magak
| Aug 17, 2018
Linton Maina, son to a Kenyan father and a German mother is on the radar of English Premier League giants Manchester United
Maina is only 19 years old and has showed marvelous skills on the pitch for Germany’s national junior team as an attacking midfielder.
Though still eligible to play for Kenya’s Harambee Stars, the youngster has already received call-ups to the Germany U16, Germany U17, Germany U18 and Germany U19 teams, making a total of 18 appearances since 2014.Indeed, his eye is on the ball and the sky is the limit for his career, having risen to play in Germany’s premier league Bundesliga for Hannover 96.
He made his professional debut for Hannover 96 on 18 March 2018, coming on as a substitute for Marvin Bakalorz in their 0–1 away loss against Borussia Dortmund. Maina’s star has never failed to shine during the 2018/19 pre-season friendly matches and his head coach Andre Breitenreiter is already a happy man. He believes the 19-year-old will be of great importance during the season.
German media have reported that Manchester United are already salivating for Maina’s services. That they are monitoring the ace, whose contract at Hannover runs till 2022, for an immediate deal with an option of letting the player at H96 on loan till January 2019.
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Sources privy to happenings at Manchester United and those who have been mentioned on German media reveal that manager José Mourinho likens Maina with German international Leroy Aziz Sané who plays as a winger and as an attacking midfielder for Premier League rival Manchester City.
Speaking on this possible move, Kenya Football Coaches Association chairman Ricky Solomon, explained how players with Kenyan lineage are doing well abroad and blasted Football Kenya Federation for not being keen on identifying and luring such ‘great’ talent.
“We have many players with Kenyan roots out there.,Maina being one of them. But it has become difficult to assemble them for our national team,” he told The Nairobian. He however, noted that one challenge in assembling the players is that “most of these players also do not want to associate with Kenya, especially the ones born in Europe.”