how Manchester United are helping Sekou Kone

French lessons and an unexpected friendship - how Manchester United are helping Sekou Kone

Man Utd signed Sekou Kone in the summer transfer window and the midfielder has gradually settled in Manchester.

Sekou Kone has been steadily brought along. (Image: 2025 Manchester United FC )

Sekou Kone was born in Mali and Tommy Rowe was born in Wythenshawe. They are separated by 17 years, but Kone and Rowe have struck an unlikely friendship at Carrington this season.

Kone and Rowe have Manchester United and a desire to learn a new language in common.

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United paid around £1million to sign Kone from Malian club Guidars FC last summer, and Rowe has played a crucial role in helping the youngster settle and feel comfortable in his new home.

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Manchester is close to 2,500 miles away from Mali and sources preached patience when he touched down in England, saying he would need time to adapt to the demands of his new surroundings.

Kone essentially had his own pre-season after missing a lot of time training while the transfer process went on, which explained why he only made his first academy start in November.

He began English lessons immediately, but supporters have not known that Travis Binnion (Under-21 manager), Dave Hughes (assistant), and Rowe (player-coach) have taken French lessons to communicate with Kone.

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"Rowy has been excellent with him and they have a brilliant relationship," Binnion told the Manchester Evening News. "I think Rowy must have been on holiday in the south of France, with how good his French is coming on. The amount of meetings he’s had with him is brilliant.

"We’ve given him that responsibility. They do analysis, but they’ll translate it for him with the language tutor. He’ll [Rowe] sit in the language lessons so he can pick it up and they'll do clips with the translator. We’re all doing French, me, Dave and Tommy, but Tommy has kept it going."

Binnion played down his French, but a source said "he has gone above and beyond" to help.

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Rowe was appointed in an academy player-coach role last year. Sources have said he is the best United have had in the hybrid academy position, which has previously been held by Paul McShane and Tom Huddlestone.

Rowe (pictured centre) after his appointment last summer.

Rowe, who came through United's academy himself, played as a trialist for the U21s in pre-season and he impressed club staff. A source also described him as 'still fit as a fiddle'.

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After leaving United's academy, Rowe joined Stockport County's youth system and made more than 600 professional appearances in his career during stints at Edgeley Park, Peterborough United, Wolves, Doncaster and Bristol City. Now he finds himself back where his career started.

He was released from his second stint with Doncaster at the end of last season and United have viewed him as the perfect addition to their academy set-up at Carrington. His remit is creating development opportunities for youth players and, of course, speaking French to Kone.

When the MEN reported United were considering Rowe last summer, a Doncaster fan tweeted: "That would be an astute appointment. He is knowledgeable, experienced and can still play, he's full of enthusiasm and has immense leadership skills. A win/win situation for all parties."

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His first season at the club has been considered a success. Huddlestone spent two seasons in the innovative role and Rowe is expected to do the same before focusing exclusively on coaching.

Rowe's personal time with Kone is beginning to bear fruit, and the 19-year-old has grown in confidence with each passing month, which has been helped by his improving English.

"Initially, it was more around basic English, but recently it’s been more weighted around his football and specific language that we will use, so specific terminology he needs to learn in English so his teammates can communicate with him," said Binnion about Kone's progress.

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"He’s got a lot going on in his life, the move, not being with his family. The lads have been brilliant with him and he’s close to quite a few of the lads. But it’s still difficult, could you imagine us moving to Africa and not speaking a language? Then having the expectation he has on him, but he’s taken it all in his stride brilliantly after a slow start because of injury."

Kone picked up an injury on his first academy start.

Kone picked up an injury in his first start for the U21s against Huddersfield's senior team in November. He struggled with the physicality of the match and limped off before half-time.

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"We have a long way to go," said Binnion. "He broke down at Huddersfield, whereas now he can get through three games in a week. At the next level, first-team level, he wouldn’t be able to because he’s not quite there yet, but his decision-making will make that easier for him physically.

"If he’s not in the right position or he makes the wrong decision, the game then opens up and it’s harder to be consistently in the right positions. It’s a long-term project with him, but his ability is there for all to see.

"I think the position he plays in on the pitch requires a lot of discipline, and we’re working on that discipline and decision-making. He is a really good player, but you can see tonight he’s had three, four or five shots and it’s like, there aren’t too many No.6s who are getting into the areas he is.

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"You don’t want to stifle that completely, but if he’s not in the right area of the pitch, then it’s harder for the team to function and it’s harder for him to develop, so he’s working really hard through training and language support."

Kone scored and assisted against Everton. (Image: 2025 Manchester United FC )

Binnion continued: "He’s a good player and we have high expectations for him, and any player we sign, you want to have those expectations, otherwise you go away and you aren’t signing a good player. You can see with the lads in the first-team, the level of expectation is high.

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"But the reward is high and our lads have to be ready, maybe sooner than other big clubs, which is a real positive for players in the academy, but it’s hard, it’s not easy, is it?

"He has trained with the first-team quite a lot now, but as you can see tonight and the games he’s played recently, a big part of his development is the games.

"And it’s a healthier part of our first-team in that position, and the demands on that position are really high, whereas a forward player, they can maybe make more mistakes and experiment a bit more.

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"The games are really important for them to get used to, the style of play, the itensity of English football and just for him to make better decisions day in, day out, in each of the games, whereas if he didn’t play games and only dropped in now and again, I think you’d see a slower rate of development.

"A lot of [academy] players train with the first-team a lot because they’re further along in their development. He does train with the first-team, but he needs to make sure he’s developing his own game, so when he goes full-time with the first-team, he’s in the right space."

Kone will continue to work hard and his amitié (friendship) with Rowe is certainly helping.

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