Can't get player 2 into game at all

Hi, was wondering if somebody could help me because I've tried everything and nothing is working.

Basically I have a Xbox one s with wireless controller.

Works fine as a single player.

Ive just bought mortal Kombat 11 and injustice 2.

As I wanted to play with my son on the games I bought a wired Xbox controller from Argos, a pdpgaming arctic white wired controller.

Plugged the controller into the front usb port and also have the wireless one active.

This is what is happening in mortal Kombat 11 for example - I'll select fight, and then local, screen will come up and I'm able to select my character, I press x to ensure player 2 controls second character. There is a instruction on player 2's side saying press A. I'm pressing A on the second wired controller and nothing is happening. I've looked at the help guides by googling and trying what I've seen suggested on these threads ie setting up a family profile for my son and signing in the controller to his profile.... Still nothing is happening. Really don't know what to do next. Can't afford to buy another wireless pad hence having bought the wired one and now worried I've wasted my money on 2 player games we can't play together. Any help would be great and much appreciated, thanks in advance

:)