Henderson backing midfield ace Mainoo to shine on international stage

By Will Jennings

Kobbie Mainoo will be mentored so he can 'express' himself and translate his red-hot Manchester United form onto the international stage, reckons 'responsible' Jordan Henderson.

Midfielder Mainoo, 18, has emerged as one of the breakthrough stars of the season and was rewarded for his dazzling domestic displays with a late call-up to Gareth Southgate’s squad for friendlies against Brazil and Belgium.

Henderson, 33, is one of the more experienced members in the Three Lions setup after helping steer England to the brink of banishing over 50 years of major tournament hurt.

The former Liverpool midfielder is relishing his leadership role and says the unity that runs through the squad can help Mainoo - and his fellow younger teammates - thrive ahead of this summer.

"Every time a new or young player comes into the squad, I feel a responsibility to make them feel as comfortable as possible”, said the current Ajax star, speaking as part of a new LG collaboration ahead of this summer.

"I want to make sure that they train well, play for England, express themselves and do what they've been doing for their club.

"But that's not just me, there are other experienced players in the group who will do that.

"I'm sure Kobbie and a few of the other lads who are new to the squad will feel at home straight away and be able to perform whenever they play for England.

"It's always enjoyable when we come to camp - all the lads are really close and again, that happens because of the experiences you have both good and bad as a group.

"We all love coming here, we all love representing our country and we want to do everyone proud.

"We want to work when we're here and work hard all the time - we just want to try and bring success that we haven't for so long in our country.

"We'll keep working, we'll keep believing and hopefully things can go well in a few months."

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Henderson has been a key cog in the Southgate sides that have come so close to lifting a major trophy for the first time since 1966 in recent years.

And Sunderland-born star, who has racked up 81 caps since his debut back in 2010, reckons England's recent experiences of heartbreak will intensify their hunger to go all the way in Germany this summer.

He added: "It’s definitely important in terms of recent tournament experience - we've had some good moments and some not so good moments.

"It's about experiences and using those experiences going into a new tournament - new players coming in, refreshing the squad from previous major tournaments.

"I think we've steadily progressed over the last few years and we're in a position now where we've got a bit of youth and also experience in major tournaments in doing quite well.

"We've just never quite got over the finish line, so that makes you more hungry - hopefully we can go one step further in the summer."

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