Manchester United are set to officially announce the signing of former Arsenal youngster Chido Obi-Martin, with the signing now ‘approved’ by the Premier League.
It was first suggested that the Red Devils were attempting to sign Obi-Martin months ago. He had already left Arsenal, but tribunals are common to decide the compensation package for under-18 players who have left one club and signed for another on a free transfer.
While talk of the signing went quiet for a while, Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Man Utd are set to confirm Obi-Martin’s arrival imminently.
“You may remember my exclusive update from the summer when Chido Obi-Martin decided to leave Arsenal, and he had several possibilities, including Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and several clubs in Italy, but Manchester United presented him with an important proposal and project, the opportunity to be close to the first-team, and with the view to being in the first-team in the next few years,” Romano wrote in his Caught Offside column.
“And so, Obi-Martin decided to go to Man United. He had his medical and signed all the documents, so everything was ready, but the deal was not official yet and so I received many messages about this, from fans trying to understand the situation.”
“It was because of the Premier League’s five-step process – for an academy player to leave one Premier League club for another, there needs to be an approval, and now the approval is there.
“So, Chido Obi-Martin to Man United was a ‘here we go’ in the summer, and now the Red Devils received confirmation that the deal has been approved, so it’s all done.”
‘It’s finally completed’ – Fabrizio Romano
Obi-Martin was considered to be one of the most promising youngsters in Arsenal’s academy, so the Gunners could live to regret losing the 16-year-old to rivals Man Utd.
“Everything is okay, and Obi-Martin now becomes a United player and an important talent for their future, because Mikel Arteta and other people at Arsenal really pushed to keep him – they did their best, but he wanted to change and it’s nothing to do with money, just about his development and the space he can find at the club, so he decided to go to United and now it’s finally completed,” Romano added.
It is not yet clear how much Man Utd will pay Arsenal in compensation for Obi-Martin, but if he reaches his sky-high potential he will be worth every penny.
Man Utd target two classy right-backs
Meanwhile, Man Utd are reportedly looking to sign a new right-back in January, despite bringing in Noussair Mazraoui from Bayern Munich over the summer.
Erik ten Hag wants more competition for Diogo Dalot and Mazraoui at right-back and two names are at the top of his shortlist.
Reports suggest that the Red Devils are poised to battle Manchester City and Liverpool for Bayer Leverkusen star Jeremie Frimpong, who could be available for €40m (£33.4m; $44.7m) this winter.
Sources have revealed to TEAMtalk that Inter Milan’s Denzel Dumfries is also a concrete target for Man Utd, so they are two players to watch in the coming months.
IN FOCUS: Chido Obi-Martin’s crazy scoring stats
In last season’s under-18 Premier League, Obi-Martin stood out a mile and bagged an outrageous 32 goals in 18 games.
The striker went on a ridiculous scoring run, netting 28 times in the final nine games of the season. He did not fail to score in any of those games, and scored multiple goals in a fair few.
Obi-Martin began the run off with two consecutive four-goal games, while also scoring five in one, seven in a 9-0 win over Norwich under-18s and a hat-trick as well as an assist in a victory over Chelsea.
For Denmark under-17s, he scored four goals on his debut, and ended his spell in the side with 11 goals, before moving up to under-18 level, where he has so far scored once in two games.
