贴出梅努接受GQ采访的完整片段,没必要断章取义和过度解读。 The manager made it a big thing, like, ‘Forget what they’re saying, it’s just about us. You have to go out and play. You have to win. ——Kobbie Mainoo Manchester United limped to an eighth-placed finish in the league in 23/24 – a humiliation by the club’s historic standards. Amid the turmoil surrounding Old Trafford (in February, the British chemicals billionaire Jim Ratcliffe bought a 27.7 per cent stake in the club for about £1.25 billion, and assumed sporting control) Mainoo was one of the few bright spots, alongside a clutch of young talent – Garnacho, Rasmus Højlund – that then-manager ten Hag had bet his future on. “He was performing consistently well in the side that wasn’t performing consistently well,” England legend and Match of The Day presenter Gary Lineker told me. “That’s when you look at players and think that they might have something very special.” In a league where big clubs tend to spend huge rather than promote academy players, Mainoo credits United for giving him the chance. “I feel like at United it’s very much in the history that they play young players, going all the way back to the Busby Babes,” Mainoo says. “There’s big writing up on the wall [at Carrington, the training ground] saying, ‘If they’re good enough, they’re old enough.’” That bet seems to be largely paying off. In May, United beat Manchester City to win the FA Cup Final, in what was – in a sign of the times – seen as a major upset. Mainoo, naturally, scored the winner. “I remember just the feeling around it was like, no one expects us to win,” he says. “They’ve just written us off. I used that as motivation.” The images of that triumph – Mainoo posing with the Cup in a red devil bucket hat, beaming with his family – were all over social media afterwards. “I won’t say it made the season a success for us as a team, but we definitely needed it. We couldn’t go into the summer with nothing, just finishing where we finished in the table,” he says. “A trophy brings hope. But it definitely didn’t make the season a success.” 教练很重视这件事,他说‘忘了他们在说什么,这只是关于我们的。你必须上场比赛。你必须赢。’ ——Kobbie Mainoo 曼联在 23/24 赛季的比赛中坎坷地获得联赛第八名——这对俱乐部的历史标准来说是一种耻辱。在围绕老特拉福德的混乱中(二月份,英国化工亿万富翁吉姆·拉特克利夫以约 12.5 亿英镑购买了俱乐部 27.7% 的股份,并取得了体育控制权),梅努是为数不多的亮点之一,旁边还有一群年轻球员天才球员——加纳乔、拉斯穆斯·霍伊伦德——当时的主教练滕哈赫将自己的未来押在了他们身上。 “他在表现不佳的球队中一直表现出色,”英格兰传奇人物、每日比赛主持人加里·莱因克尔告诉我。 “当你看着这些球员,你会认为他们可能有一些非常特别的东西。” 在一个大俱乐部倾向于花费巨资而不是提拔青训球员的联赛中,梅努称赞曼联给了他机会。 “我觉得在曼联历史上,他们都是年轻球员,一直可以追溯到巴斯比宝贝,”迈努说。 “[卡灵顿训练场]的墙上写着大字,‘如果他们足够好,他们就足够老了。’” 这一赌注似乎基本上得到了回报。五月,曼联击败曼城赢得足总杯决赛,这在当时被视为一场重大冷门。梅努自然而然地打进了制胜球。 “我记得周围的感觉就像是,没有人指望我们获胜,”他说。 “他们觉得我们必败。我把这当成一种动力。” 这场胜利的场面——梅努戴着红色魔鬼渔夫帽与奖杯合影,与家人一起微笑——随后在社交媒体上疯传。 “我不会说这让我们整个赛季取得了成功,但我们确实需要它。我们不能一无所有地进入夏天,只是完成我们在积分榜上的排名,”他说。 “奖杯带来希望。但绝没有让这个赛季成功。”