Former Manchester United defender Phil Jones believes teenage talent Chido Obi-Martin will be at the forefront of the team’s revival.
United supporters got a glimpse of the future during the 1-0 loss to Tottenham last Sunday as every player on the bench, with the exception of Victor Lindelof, was under the age of 20.
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Despite having a full bench, even if it was filled with inexperience, Red Devils boss Ruben Amorim made just one substitution and waited until the stoppage time to do so.
It was Obi-Martin, as he came on for Casemiro in what was his senior debut.
The fact it was the 17-year-old who was brought on ahead of his fellow teenage compatriots on the bench has given Jones, who works as a coach in United’s academy at Carrington, plenty of belief he will play a starring role in the English giants’ turnaround.
In fact, Jones has tipped the Danish prodigy to follow a similar path to Amad Diallo, who impressed on loan spells before he became one of the first names on the team sheet under Amorim.
“Working in and around the academy and helping those young players develop, United have some really good and talented young players coming through,” Jones said on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast.
“The squad had a lot of injuries against Tottenham and the bench was full of kids, but there were some talented players on that bench.
“People might not know a lot about them now, but they certainly will in the next few years.
“I think you look at Kobbie Mainoo, top player, you look at Chido who we’ve just signed from Arsenal, who’s an animal.
“You look at Amad who had a couple of really good loans, and I remember watching him winning it against Liverpool in extra time last season, and I had said at that time he’d play a huge part in the next season.
“I played with Amad for a year or two and you could see then that the quality he had was really good and really strong.
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“As I said there’s a great crop of young players ready to be given the chance and integrated into the team.”
United’s academy and first team staff undoubtedly have high hopes for Obi-Martin given the effort they made to prise him away from Arsenal last September.
The Red Devils reportedly beat out two German teams to Obi-Martin’s signature thanks to their willingness to fast-track the forward into the first team picture.
Obi-Martin was a menace in front of goal for the Gunners’ under-18 side last season, netting a whopping 32 goals in just 18 league fixtures.
He even bagged a seven-goal haul in a 9-0 victory against Norwich City’s under-18’s in April.
Thanks to his goalscoring exploits, Obi-Martin beat Folarin Balogun‘s tally of 25 to become the record-holder for most goals scored by an Arsenal under-18’s player in a single season.
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Obi-Martin didn’t have to wait long to make a positive impression at Carrington as he bagged a first-half hat-trick in his debut for United’s under-18’s against Nottingham Forest.
In fact, his first goal came after just 13 seconds as the Dane rounded the Forest goalkeeper following a loose pass in their defence.
Obi-Martin then completed his hat-trick in the 14th minute with a close-range finish and was taken off at half-time.
The 17-year-old will hope to be involved with United’s first team for a second-straight weekend when Amorim’s side travel to Everton on Saturday.
