Arsenal are reportedly on the lookout for a new striker in January to chip in with more goals after a laboured start to the season in the box from Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah. Brentford’s Ivan Toney and Santiago Gimenez of Feyenoord are among the names touted as immediate replacements for the duo but there is also an exciting prospect coming through Arsenal’s academy who looks primed to break into the first team in the next couple of years.
Chido Obi-Martin scored a miraculous 10 goals on Saturday during a 14-3 win for Arsenal’s under-16s away at Liverpool. The 15-year-old has represented his club at multiple age groups up to under-21 level and recently scored a hat-trick for the under-18s during a game against Southampton.
His impressive form has caught the eye of Gunners legend Ian Wright, who said of the youngster: “Chido Obi-Martin, he’s 15, honestly, he’s like 6 foot 2, he looks really quick.”
Obi-Martin is eligible to represent Denmark and England in international football. He started off his career with Denmark’s under-16s before making a couple of appearances for the Young Lions in February. However, he has since chosen to switch his allegiances back to his homeland after rejecting an England under-17 call-up for the Euro 2024 qualifiers.
As a Danish under-17 international, he has scored seven goals in nine appearances including four against Norway in August despite being the youngster member of Jesper Mikkelsen’s Denmark side. Mikkelsen has been extremely complimentary of Obi-Martin and insists that his physical presence isn’t the only thing that is allowing him to excel so early in his career.
“He is really dominant because of his physique, but I don’t think that is the only reason,” he told Danish website Bold.dk in October. “He is big and strong, but he is also reasonably agile.
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“He is good at sticking to the game, but he is actually also good at challenging and dribbling himself. So that makes him interesting now and in the long run because it is interesting to see how much this physique can carry him forward towards a breakthrough on the big stage.”
His stellar displays have also impressed Mikel Arteta, who recently called up Obi-Martin to train with the first team. Arteta famously gave Ethan Nwaneri his first team debut at just 15 years old during a Premier League clash with Brentford last season and it seems Obi-Martin could be one of the next teenagers to be handed the opportunity to shine on the big stage.
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