Manchester United’s teenage midfielder Kobbie Mainoo has been called up to the England senior team for the first time – before he has even played for the U21s.

Mainoo, 18, has been added to Gareth Southgate’s squad for home friendlies against Brazil on Saturday and Belgium three days later.

The United youth product was initially called up to the Under-21 team last week but has now been promoted to Southgate’s team.

Mainoo, who was born in Stockport but is also allowed to play for Ghana, celebrated his breakthrough for the 20-time English champions this season.

He made 20 appearances for Erik ten Hag’s team, including in the Premier League and the Champions League, scoring two goals.

Mainoo has previously represented England at U17, U18 and U19 level.

Southgate praised the young player last week when discussing the selection of his latest squad.

“I think Kobbie is doing a great job for a young player. We never hesitate to send a young player to the senior team, but he has only played a handful of games,” he said.

“You have to be careful to make the right decisions at the right time and ideally we should give him the space to develop at his own pace.

“He’s not at the point in terms of the number of games that Jude (Bellingham) or Bukayo (Saka) were at when they first came in.

“But I repeat – he is doing really well, he is a good footballer, you can see that, and he is gaining great experience at Manchester United and gives the impression of being a good character.”