After Wednesday’s hat-trick for the U18 Premier League history’s all-time leading scorer, this time against Chelsea in the cup, we wrote: Now Amorim can no longer ignore striker Chido Obi-Martin banging on the first-team door. On Friday, Ruben Amorim confirms that the door has been opened.
The 17-year-old has 9 goals in seven appearances for United’s U18 team. At Arsenal, there were a wild 32 goals in 21 games for the Premier League U18 U18 history’s all-time leading scorer. Last week, the 17-year-old made his debut from the start with the U21 team, where it was most obvious that the striker scored a goal.
On Wednesday, it was back in the U18 team for a match against Chelsea. A quarter-final ticket to the FA Youth Cup was at stake. Chelsea started with a goal, but Obi-Martin equalized after a few minutes. When the referee blew for full-time, Chelsea’s teenagers walked off the pitch sly. 5-1 win for Manchester United with a hat-trick from Obi-Martin.
On Friday, the United manager was asked if the 17-year-old is now called up for first-team training.
-We had some problems this week. We asked some players to attend our training sessions so we have data and can evaluate, and he was one of them,” Ruben Amorim said, according to the Daily Mail.
With injuries in the squad, it has opened up opportunities for Obi-Martin, the striker who has a confidence in front of the opponents’ goal Rasmus Hojlund can only dream of this season.
The interesting thing is that Ruben Amorim was asked about the striker situation six days ago, then the answer was:
“He (Obi-Martin) is doing his job. He’s improving and he’s playing for the youth teams and we’ve got other players who can play that position as well,” the United manager began, according to the Manchester Evening News.
“Rasmus and Josh (Zirkzee) are there. We have bought the two players and we have to improve them, and sometimes confidence can change a player. We’ll see at the end of the season. But until then we have two strikers who can score goals, they have proven that in the past,” the United manager said.
Less than a week later, Obi-Martin is brought up for the first-team training. We think the debut will come sooner rather than later. Thrilling!
