Chido Obi pictured against Leicester.
Chido Obi is making a breakthrough at Manchester United
Chido Obi has been promoted to Manchester United's first-team set-up in the last six weeks.
The youngster made a noticeable improvement in academy fixtures from November onward and was rewarded for his tremendous goalscoring form with a senior debut against Tottenham.
Obi has subsequently made substitute appearances against Everton, Fulham and Leicester, and he was called up to Denmark's Under-21 side for the first time for the international break.
There has been a lot for Obi to process in a short space of time. He's gone from playing for the Under-18s to playing in front of 74,000 supporters at Old Trafford, and he's moved up an age bracket in Denmark's youth system, so everything is happening quickly for someone who is just 17 years old.
That is happening for a reason, though. Obi has the potential to become an excellent striker and Denmark's U21 manager said he was "extremely happy" with the youngster after his call-up.
“I think he will fit in well with the squad,” Steffen Hojer told Tipsbladet. “We had talked about it a lot before, because he is five years younger than some of the players we have.
"He is a very young man. He was there to learn, and we had him there to watch him. He makes a good impression, and I was extremely happy to see how he came into the squad and how the boys welcomed him. He has had a really good trip and has shown himself well. Now it’s home and work further at Manchester United and see if he can get a little more playing time there.
“He comes in where there is relatively a lot of pressure. What you hope with someone like him is that he gets that one chance, because it is absolutely his core competency to be in the box and put the balls in the box. It didn’t come [against Italy]. But he came in and worked with the team."
Chido Obi made his Denmark U21 debut against Poland last week. (Image: Altan Gocher / GocherImagery/Future Publishing via Getty Images))
Hojer's comments were made just a few weeks after Ruben Amorim praised Obi. "They are players with talent and then, when you have this moment with some injuries, they have to be ready. It's our tradition to put players in to play, especially in this moment," said Amorim last month.
"We have to focus on everything, the future is right there and the young kids can feel the club and can change things sometimes for us, without buying players. And I think Chido did really well today. Of course, he was a little bit naïve in some moments, but you felt that, inside the box, he wants the ball – something the strikers have and he has."
Those comments were made after United crashed out of the FA Cup fifth round against Fulham. Obi replaced Rasmus Hojlund in the second half of that game, and he sniffed out a few chances, despite obvious signs of inexperience, which led to Amorim describing him as slightly "naive."
You don't need UEFA coaching badges to recognise how raw Obi still is, but that is normal for a player of his age and he obviously has huge improvements to make in the next few years.
Obi is not ready to start meaningful games for United, although that doesn't mean he's not capable of influencing a game from the bench and he could be third choice striker next season.
Every coach who has worked with Obi appears to say the same thing: he's got an abundance of talent but his ceiling is far from being reached. Obi could be sent on loan for the next stage of his development, however, he feels like a player United will want to keep in their senior squad.
Obi will be learning every day during training at Carrington and the experience of being around the squad for the second half of this season will stand him in good stand for 2025/2026.
United will sign a new striker, preferably an experienced forward, in the summer and they will compete with Hojlund to start. Obi is an obvious candidate to be the third choice in that position, and he should be given minutes from the bench and in the domestic cup competitions.
Obi shouldn't be overexposed too soon and will benefit from having two strikers ahead of him.