Grimsby vs Man United: Mainoo, Onana in line for rare minutes

Kobbie Mainoo and André Onana will be handed the chance to stake a claim for a first-team spot at Manchester United in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup second round tie at Grimsby Town with manager Ruben Amorim saying he will rotate his squad against the EFL League Two side.

Benjamin Sesko, the £73.7 million ($99.31m) signing from RB Leipzig earlier this month, is also expected to make his first start for United after two substitute appearances in the opening Premier League fixtures against Arsenal and Fulham.

England midfielder Mainoo and previous first-choice goalkeeper Onana have yet to register a minute on the pitch for United this season, with forward Joshua Zirkzee also having been consigned to the substitutes’ bench so far this campaign.

But with United having not qualified for European football this season and therefore entering the Carabao Cup at the second round stage for the first time since 2014 — when they suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat away to MK Dons — Amorim said he will use the Grimsby clash as an opportunity to rest players and hand chances to others.

When asked if he would make several changes against Grimsby, Amorim replied: “Yes. We have three games this week and we have quality players and we need to do rotation to try to win every game.

“It is a normal thing that happens in other clubs. We were not prepared to play in Europe this season — that is my feeling, to have strong games in Europe and play in the Premier League.

“But we need time to develop as a team. They [players] need to fight for the places, then, everything can change.

“Sometimes one is playing, at other moments, another is going to play. We have the cups, so there will be a lot of games for everybody.

“We need time to build a base and then in the future, to move forward. We will reach a moment where we need to have Europe for everybody to play games.”

Denmark forward Rasmus Højlund, who was omitted from the squad for Arsenal and Fulham games, is not expected to play against Grimsby due to ongoing negotiations with Napoli over a move to the Italian champions. And Amorim confirmed that defender Noussair Mazraoui, sidelined due to injury since preseason, is unlikely to face Grimsby or Burnley in Saturday’s Premier League game at Old Trafford.

“Maybe he is going to return next week, we will see, but he is near” Amorim said. “We are just finishing some drills with him to be sure he is not going to have another problem.”

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