Manchester United's World Cup player ratings were shaped by a simple split. Amad Diallo and Lisandro Martínez came out as the clear winners, while Kobbie Mainoo ended the tournament with no minutes at all and Senne Lammens had the kind of late mistake that drags a rating down fast.
Amad's tournament impact
Amad did his damage in moments that mattered. He scored a wonderful winner against Ecuador in the opening game after coming on as a substitute, then added another brilliant goal against Norway in the last-16. That left him with three appearances at the tournament and a profile that matched the praise he received, with the Manchester Evening News columnist calling him one of the stars of the tournament.
The line is easy to understand because the output was immediate. He did not need a long run of starts to shape the ratings, just a pair of decisive goals and enough influence in limited minutes to stand out.
Lisandro Martínez had a different kind of case. He scored and assisted in a wild game against Cape Verde, earned a place in one stats-led team of the tournament, and was described as excellent defensively. His tournament average of 7.22 across seven appearances backs that up, along with one goal and one assist.
Mainoo's section is harsher. He did not play a single minute despite forcing his way into the England squad, even though his most recent club match produced a 7.2 rating. That blank is the sharpest frustration in the piece, because it is not a question of form on club duty so much as complete absence when the tournament came around.
Lammens provided the low point. He was rated 3/10 after spilling Pau Cubarsi's long-range shot at the feet of Mikel Merino in the 88th minute to hand Spain a winning goal. For a ratings piece built on contrast, that is the kind of error that sits at the bottom of the page for a reason.
The asterisk some readers will raise
The Mainoo omission will split opinion a bit. Some will point to selection preference and the simple fact that he was not used at all, while others will look at the recent 7.2 club rating and wonder why he never got a minute. Based on the available evidence, the harder line is that the omission is striking, but it stops short of proving anything beyond the fact that he was left on the bench throughout the tournament.
That leaves the article with a fairly clean verdict. Amad and Martínez were the two players who enhanced their reputations most clearly, Mainoo was the glaring non-factor, and Lammens supplied the night’s obvious low point. United's next focus is back at club level, where the same names will be judged on a very different stage.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
