Manchester United are closing in on the completion of a deal for young striker Chido Obi-Martin.
One of the most exciting deals of the summer could end up being Manchester United’s move for Chido Obi-Martin.
And while Arsenal fans had suggested the move may have been dictated by money, the reality could not be further from the truth.
It emerged Manchester United had not handed Chido Obi-Martin a money-spinning deal at Old Trafford after all. In fact, the contract on offer was actually inferior to those that had come Obi-Martin’s way from the German Bundesliga.
Sky Sports’ Dharmeth Sheth insists that the striker’s imminent switch to Man United was not ‘financially motivated’.
And Arsenal, Fabrizio Romano explains, made a ‘very important financial proposal‘ of their own. Instead, it appears that the pathway on offer at Old Trafford has convinced Obi-Martin that Man United is the place to be.
Manchester United win race for Arsenal’s Chido Obi-Martin
The likes of Emile Smith Rowe and Folarin Balogun have also felt the need to leave Arsenal in pursuit of first-team opportunities that were not forthcoming under Mikel Arteta. While Carrington kids Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho fired Erik ten Hag’s side to FA Cup glory over rivals Manchester City at Wembley.
Toby Collyer and the Luke Shaw clone Harry Amass are also expected to get chances in the coming campaign, having both impressed Ten Hag during the pre-season tour of the USA.
Obi-Martin, Romano adds, could have a first-team role himself. Still only 16, it is expected that the Premier League Under 18 Golden Boot winner will actually be Man United’s third-choice number nine behind Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee, opportunities potentially forthcoming in the Europa League and the EFL Cup initially.
Sheth, meanwhile, provided an update on the status of the Obi-Martin deal on Tuesday morning.
Writing on X, the Sky reporter claims that arguably the best striker of his age group in English football has arrived in the North West ahead of his medical.
Should everything go to plan, Chido Obi-Martin should be officially confirmed as a Manchester United player shortly, even if Romano insists that an announcement may be a little delayed.
Manchester United commitment to youth
Man United, during last season’s 4-2 victory over Sheffield United, wrote Ethan Wheatley’s name into the history books when he became the 250th academy graduate to make his first-team appearance in that famous shirt.
Amass, Collyer and co surely won’t be far behind with Obi-Martin also expected to follow in the footsteps of Wheatley, Mainoo and Garnacho.
Collyer has been a regular in pre-season. And, speaking to The Athletic, the hard-running midfielder admits he is delighted to have caught Ten Hag’s eye.
“I think it’s a massive boost, it shows he rates me as a player,” says the Crawley-born former Brighton and Hove Albion starlet. “(At Wembley) he just said take it all in, enjoy myself and keep working hard and you never know what can happen.
“He’s a really good guy, the manager.”
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