Manchester United have chosen to include Chido Obi in the Academy’s U18s fixture to face Aston Villa in the FA Youth Cup on Monday evening.
After a two-week break for international fixtures, Rúben Amorim’s Manchester United resume their Premier League campaign with an away fixture against Nottingham Forest on Tuesday, 1 April.
United entered the international break in excellent form, securing consecutive victories against Real Sociedad, a comfortable 3-0 win over Leicester City, and a valuable 1-1 draw against Arsenal.
Bruno Fernandes has been the standout performer recently, netting five goals and supplying two assists in his last three matches under Amorim.
Although the Forest game provides a great chance for United to build on recent momentum, Amorim will undoubtedly be mindful of upcoming key clashes, including the Manchester Derby and a Europa League quarter-final tie against Olympique Lyonnais.
United confirm Obi inclusion decision
In the build-up to the Forest fixture, there has been a lot of talk regarding whether 17-year-old Chido Obi would be involved in the first-team squad, amad the U18s FA Youth Cup semi-final against Aston Villa the night before.
Obi currently sits at the competition’s top scorer with seven goals in three games, but missed the 3-2 win against his former side Arsenal in the quarter-finals due to his involvement for the first-team against Fulham two days later.
When asked last week if the Dane would be involved against Villa, U18s coach Adam Lawrence explained this would only happen if Amorim chooses not to select Obi in his squad to face Forest the next day.
However, ahead of the tie in Birmingham, MailSport has confirmed that Obi has been given permission to travel with the U18s squad, and the striker is expected to start.
Interestingly, the report also reveals that young left-back Harry Amass has not travelled and is therefore in contention to travel with the first-team squad when they play against Forest on Tuesday evening.
Obi’s impact
Obi’s availability to face Villa on Monday evening is a huge boost for U18s coach Lawrence.
“He’s horrible to play against,” Lawrence told The Athletic when speaking about the 17-year-old star.
“He’s got that lovely way about him where he backs himself, that healthy arrogance where he’s like, ‘I want to play at the top, get better and improve’. He’s definitely brought that to the group.”
Obi is still expected to be involved with the first team in the coming weeks as the season draws to a close. However, he will not be involved in any Europa League fixtures after the club chose not to register him for the competition’s knockout phase back in February.
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