Man Utd trying to steal Arsenal’s best academy player – Fabrizio Romano

Robin Bairner

• 19 Jul 2024 21:56 BST
• 3 min read

Manchester United are one of several clubs trying to sign Chido Obi-Martin from Arsenal, Fabrizio Romano and David Ornstein have both confirmed.

There were rumours that 16-year-old Obi-Martin had visited Man Utd’s training base of Carrington on Friday, but now football transfer news reporter Romano has confirmed this surprising turn of events.

Arsenal had previously been bullish over their prospects of keeping the teenage star, who Mikel Arteta has already been plotting a pathway to the first team for.

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Obi-Martin’s family, though, had been exerting pressure on the youngster to look elsewhere. In particular, they were keen for the 16-year-old to examine closely the possibility of moving to the Bundesliga, where interest has come from Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

It appears, however, that Obi-Martin could be on his way to Man Utd, with one source verifying to FootballTransfers that he did indeed visit the Old Trafford club as was indicated by Romano on his YouTube channel.

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Man Utd hold Chido talks

David Ornstein, meanwhile, confirmed the news to the Athletic, with discussions set to be at an ‘early stage’.

“Arsenal made what they felt was a fair offer to Obi-Martin, whose next deal will be a scholarship before switching to a professional contract upon reaching his 17th birthday,” it is confirmed.

“Ultimately the forward decided to move on and United are among a host of interested sides, though that does not include Manchester City.”

Chido Obi-Martin caught the eye last season as he scored an incredible 32 goals in just 20 U18 Premier League matches for the young Gunners at a rate of a strike every 47 minutes. These performances earned him a promotion to the older teams.

The Denmark U17 international, who has also played for England at youth level, is now primed to move away from Arsenal, with his European passport meaning that he can move to any club in the EU before his 18th birthday.