Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has commented on Kobbie Mainoo’s future at the Premier League giants as he remains linked with an exit.

Mainoohas had a difficult time at Man Utd over the past 18 months as he has fallen in the pecking order under Amorim, who clearly prefers other midfielders.

The England international has only been a bit-part player forthe Red Devilsduring Amorim’s reign, with his lack of game time fuelling reports of an exit in January.

Man Utd denied Mainoo’s exit request in the summer as they did not want to leave themselves short of options, and this could also be the case in January.

Serie A giants Napoli have been mooted as his most likely destination, but Amorim has admitted that it is “going to be hard” for Man Utd to let any players leave in January unless they sign a replacement.

“It’s going to be hard for someone to leave the club if we don’t get a substitution,” Amorim said.

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“We are short. Even with the full squad we are short for something that can happen.

“We are a club with a big responsibility. We are dealing with all these issues and in [the media’s] heads, in my head, in everybody’s head, we need to win every game. It doesn’t matter. There are no excuses.”

He added: “We are struggling in this moment, but the club has a plan and we are going to stick with the plan.

“If we have the opportunity to bring a player [in] that we think is going to be the future of the club, [he] is going to come.

“If not, we have Jack [Fletcher], we have Shea [Lacey] – in three weeks we’ll have Amad, Noussair and Bryan, and the return of Bruno and Kobbie Mainoo.”

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Regarding Mainoo, Amorim has backed the centre-midfielder to be the “future of Manchester United”.

“Kobbie Mainoo [has] played in different positions,” Amorim continued.

“He can do [Casemiro’s] position. He can play if we play with three, he can play like we play in the last game [at Aston Villa].

“The position of Mason Mount in that game, he can play there.

“He is going is going to be the future of Manchester United. That is my feeling.

“He just needs to wait for his chance. In football, everything can change in two days.”