3 months ago
29 ARTICLE AD
James GoldmanPublished Jul 31, 2024, 8:48am|Updated Jul 31, 2024, 8:49am
Arsenal have been left ‘disappointed’ and counting the potential cost of losing teenage goal machine Chido Obi-Martin to Manchester United.
The 16-year-old shot to prominence last season on the back of his extraordinary goalscoring exploits for the Gunners’ youth sides.
Obi-Martin registered an astonishing 32 goals in 18 matches for the Under-18s, including a preposterous 10 in a single game against Liverpool.
With a new contract to be agreed, Arsenal believed they had put in enough groundwork, offered a significant financial incentive and mapped out a path into the first that would be enough to tempt Obi-Martin into committing his future to the north London club.
Mikel Arteta spoke personally with the Denmark youth international in an attempt to bolster Arsenal’s sales pitch, but ultimately Obi-Martin had his head turned amid interest from United and Bayern Munich.
In addition to a salary understood to be around £15,000-a-week, Arsenal indicated Obi-Martin would spend the majority of the coming season with the Under-18s and represent the Under-21s when the schedule allowed, while opportunities to train alongside the club’s first team superstars would arise naturally.
According to the Daily Mail, Obi-Martin’s camp wanted their player to be parachuted straight into the U-21s but the ‘dealbreaker’ was money.
United are reported to have doubled the wages that were on offer at Arsenal although the claim that his move was solely financially motivated have been rejected.
Obi-Martin and his representatives are said to have harboured significant doubts about the chances of breaking into the first team at Arsenal given the number of young players who have been frustrated by a lack of opportunities under Arteta.
Already this summer the highly-rated Amario Cozier-Duberry has left for Brighton while Reuell Walters, left on the bench for last season’s Champions League dead rubber against PSV Eindhoven, has joined Luton Town.
Hale End Academy graduates Emile Smith Rowe, Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah all appear destined to be sold, meanwhile, having at one point or another been first team regulars.
Obi-Martin is understood to have now agreed the formalities of his move to United and had already penned a goodbye message to Arsenal earlier this week.
‘I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to everybody at Arsenal for the last four years,’ he wrote on Instagram.
‘The experiences and growth I’ve achieved here have been truly invaluable. A special thanks to the coaches, staff and team-mates at Hale End.’
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