Chido Obi: 'Insanely exciting' wonderkid told he MUST succeed at Man Utd

Tom Weber

• Updated: 1 Mar 2025 17:37 GMT
• 4 min read

Denmark head coach Brian Riemer believes that Manchester United striker Chido Obi is an 'insanely exciting' talent who needs to play regularly.

The young striker officially joined Man Utd from Arsenal in October. Obi-Martin had already agreed to move to Old Trafford in July, but the Premier League's due diligence process regarding academy transfers caused a lengthy delay.

Since his arrival, the 17-year-old has enjoyed a rapid rise to prominence. He scored prolifically for Man Utd's U18s in his first weeks at the club - just as he had done at Arsenal - and was fast-tracked to the senior side by Ruben Amorim due to the Red Devils' scoring and injury issues.

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After making his debut late in Man Utd's loss to Tottenham, Obi was given 20 minutes in the 2-2 draw with Everton but did not feature in the 3-2 victory over Ipswich midweek.

He was omitted from Man Utd's U18 clash with his former side Arsenal in the FA Youth Cup quarter-final on Friday as he will likely get some minutes against Fulham in the senior cup on Sunday.

Obi ready for the national team?

In light of his rise to the top and his spectacular scoring record at the youth level, there is plenty of excitement over the teenager in his native Denmark.

The former England U16 international has scored 17 goals in 29 outings for Denmark's various age groups and there are some who want to see him get a shot with the first team soon.

Viaplayhas now quizzed Denmark boss Brian Riemer about Obi and the coach admitted that the striker is 'insanely exciting' but made it clear that he would first have to succeed in winning himself a regular place in the Man Utd side before being considered.

"Can I start by saying that I really think we are telling a fantastic story here," Riemer began. "Try to think about how many times we have sat with a Danish national team and said: 'We are missing players, when will some strikers come?'"

"We have so many young players, some of them may be just young enough to break through, but how great is it that we have so many knocking on the door – I think that is important to say.

"DBU [the Danish FA] has been in contact with him, the U-team coaches have been too. I haven't been yet because there needs to be one more step.

"The senior national team requires one more step – you need to come in and play more regularly before the senior national team is an option for you. It's hard to get there if you don't play regularly for your club team."

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A comparison was made with Mika Biereth - another former Arsenal striker now thriving - and Riemer pointed out that the Monaco sharpshooter is much further along in his development.

"Now there is talk about Mika Biereth, let's say he should be ahead of him [in the pecking order], but after all, we are talking about someone who plays regularly at Monaco and scores a lot of goals.

"[Obi] is in a place now where it is insanely exciting, but he has to make his breakthrough. That is the next step he has to focus on - breaking through at Man Utd - and from there he is a player who would be extremely interesting [for us]."