Manchester United have hinted at a decision regarding Chido Obi’s involvement against Nottingham Forest following his promotion to Rúben Amorim’s first team.
After a two-week break for international duty, Rúben Amorim’s Manchester United are back in Premier League action on Tuesday, 1 April, with an away trip to Nottingham Forest.
United hit their stride before the pause, recording back-to-back wins over Real Sociedad, a dominant 3-0 victory against Leicester City, and a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Arsenal.
Bruno Fernandes has been the standout performer, contributing five goals and two assists in his last three games under Amorim.
The clash with Forest presents a strong opportunity to maintain that momentum, though Amorim will undoubtedly have one eye on the challenges ahead — a Manchester Derby and a Europa League quarter-final showdown with Olympique Lyonnais.
United made decision on Obi’s Forest involvement
With United heading into a crucial end of the season, many hope this will allow young striker Chido Obi to become increasingly involved in Premier League fixtures.
United chose not to register the 17-year-old in their Europa League squad, meaning he will not be eligible to face Lyon, but after making a few Premier League appearances so far this year, some feel he will soon be granted his first start in Red.
Earlier this season, Obi was a menacing force for the club’s u18s as they continued their hunt to win the FA Youth Cup, scoring seven goals in three appearances against Coventry, Preston, and Chelsea’s academy teams.
However, he was not involved in their quarter-final win against Arsenal due to his increased involvement in the United first team.
With the club’s semi-final of the FA Youth Cup against Aston Villa set to take place on Monday evening, U18s coach Adam Lawrence was asked if Obi would be involved, to which he replied that this entirely depends on Amorim’s final decision.
“We’ll be governed by what the first team need and the way they approach their program and the game,” Lawrence explained. “The first team is the priority. So I guess we’ll have to see closer to the time just in terms of where the first team are at, the squad.
“Not just Chido, but there might be one or two others in that as well. And then we make the best decision just in terms of for the player at that moment. Would we like Chido to play every minute of every game? Of course.
“But naturally, as a developer, and when you see the individual programs for the players, as long as they’re playing, developing, and enjoying their football, we’re obviously working from the top down. So we just have to see closer to the time.
Lawrence concluded: “So it’s a bit of a conundrum for us in terms of the semi-final, but the bigger picture, if you would have said to us that Chido would have been in this position when he first signed this soon, being at the club, I think we would have took it. So ultimately that’s got to be a success.”
As Lawrence confirmed that Amorim will have the final say with respect to Obi’s involvement, it is likely that the young striker may miss the FA Youth Cup final in order to be in the travelling squad to face Nottingham Forest the following day – there have been subsequent murmurs that this will be final decision.
Obi seeing promotions across all fronts
Amorim’s decision has only further cemented the news that United are starting to consider Obi as a first-team player.
Meanwhile, the young striking sensation is also being promoted within Denmark’s Academy ranks following his debut for the national side’s U21s team last week.
With the U21 European Championship set to take place this summer, it has been hinted that Obi may be selected for the squad despite his age compared to his compatriots, meaning he may not be able to play in United’s pre-season.
“I think he will fit in well with the squad. 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,” Denmark U21s boss Steffen Højer remarked on Obi this week.
“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.”
While Obi did not score in either of his cameos from the bench, Højer suggested that the chances just didn’t come for him and that the United starlet did as much as he could in the minutes he was on the pitch.
“He comes in where there is relatively a lot of pressure,” the 51-year-old continued. “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 yesterday.
“But he came in and worked with the team in a difficult situation, so you couldn’t expect much else from him.”
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