Kobbie Mainoo helped Manchester United end a horrible 2023/24 season on a high note by winning the FA Cup. The 19-year-old outwitted the likes of Rodri and Kevin de Bruyne, scoring a brilliant goal in his side’s gritty 2-1 win over Manchester City at Wembley.
Mainoo’s stock keeps rising and his terrific performance might grant him a special role in the England squad for Euro 2024. The Manchester United youth academy graduate was visibly delighted to win his first trophy with his beloved and was a lively figure in the celebrations. But it was one of the celebratory pictures that also showed how difficult a professional football’s life can be.
After the game, some pictures of Mainoo posing with his close buddy Alejandro Garnacho caught the attention of fans.
Fans were freaked out to see the shocking state of the 19-year-old’s toenails. Almost every one of his nails are blackened and looks like the toenails of a much older person.
Well, there is actually a logical reasoning behind the disfigurement of Mainoo’s nails. He is suffering from something that is called as ‘Runner’s Toe’. A lot of athletes around the world suffer from this issue, which is caused by the repeated strain but put on one’s feet.
Runner’s Toe causes the toenails to turn black, as has been the case with the Manchester United starboy. When one’s toe rubs or slams into the shoe, that can cause stress to the nail. Repeating this will cause internal bleeding underneath the toenail, causing it to turn black. Runner’s Toe happens by hitting your toe over and over again, something which the footballers are susceptible to.
A modern-day professional footballer has to run for hours and hours every single day during the normal season. Not only are footballers like Mainoo forced to run a lot during matches, but also to put in the work in training as well as in cardio work in the gym. They are forced to wear tight football boots while doing so, which puts even more stress upon one’s toe and can easily cause for internal bleeding underneath the nails.
Runner’s toe can also be caused by fungi and bacteria setting into the toenails if one’s foot is stuck inside sweaty shoes for hours and hours. This is also a very natural thing for footballers like Mainoo, who have to keep wearing shoes for many hours every day whenever they’re training or playing football.
Normally, a runner’s toe happens to the big toe as it sticks further out than any of the other toes in the feet. But for Mainoo, it’s clear that this condition has impacted every single one of his toenails. Normally, there is no reason to treat Runner’s Toe if Mainoo is not feeling any pain on his toes.
But if the toes really start to hurt, Mainoo could look into a treatment named ‘Nail Trephination’. This procedure is done when a small hole is drilled into the nail using a heated needle or carbon dioxide laser. After this, pooled blood is drilled out of the toenails and it can cause the nail to automatically fall off because of the blood collection.
The toenails tend to grow back after this procedure without looking as blackened as they do when one is suffering from a runner’s toe. However, Mainoo really doesn’t seem to care that much about how his toenails look and is more focused on constantly improving himself as a footballer.
The 19-year-old only keeps getting better & better with each appearance. He will hope to use his brilliant feet to help Manchester United to even more success and becoming a mainstay in the England midfield for the long term.
