Chido Martin-Obi: Are Arsenal about to lose their very own Erling Haaland to Man Utd?

Martin-Obi was born in Glostrup, Denmark on November 29 2007 to a Danish mother and Nigerian father. Located a stone's throw from Copenhagen, his footballing journey began at Kjobenhavns Boldklub, one of the capital's many clubs.

When he was only 14, he was snapped up by Arsenal, with he and his family moving over to England as a result. It wasn't long before he found himself playing well above his age group too. He made his debut for the Under-18s when he was 15, eventually earning a maiden start in September 2023 against Southampton.

Naturally, it went extremely well. Inside 38 minutes he had already scored his first goal and five minutes from time he clinched a hat-trick that left manager Jack Wilshere delighted. He would soon boost his reputation even further, though.

It's hard to look past that aforementioned Norwich display for Martin-Obi's breakout moment. However, those keeping a closer eye on youth football will have been familiar with the player even before then.

Back in October 2023, he made headlines by scoring no less than 10 goals in an Under-16 fixture against Liverpool. The achievement did come with one significant caveat, as the Reds were apparently forced to use an outfielder between the sticks due to injury, but there was no doubting the quality of some of the goals.

Throughout the game, Martin-Obi streaked ahead of the Liverpool defence with ease before remaining calm to make the net bulge with a range of clever finishes. He also converted a penalty and got on the end of one cross to bag a goal with his head. After the game, he posted a smiling selfie on his social media with the matchball. Since then, he's kicked on massively.

His antics in the Liverpool mauling clearly caught Mikel Arteta's eye. Just days later, Martin-Obi would be invited to train with the first-team squad before his 16th birthday. He even fared well enough to earn a start in the UEFA Youth League against Sevilla, with the Gunners on the wrong side of a 2-1 scoreline.

Two more appearances in that competition would follow alongside the likes of Myles Lewis-Skelley and Reuell Walters, as Martin-Obi continued to prove he belongs with the older age groups. And it's not just at club level that he's been surpassing expectations.

Martin-Obi has represented both Denmark and England at international level and, remarkably, both teams named him in their squads for some February friendlies back in 2023. On that occasion he opted for England, but more recent evidence suggests he may be leaning towards representing the country of his birth.

He has a fearsome goal record for Denmark Under-17s, netting 10 times in just 14 appearances, including two in the recent European Championship - where he was also named in the team of the tournament. The Danish FA will be keeping everything crossed that he continues to turn out for them moving forward.

Martin-Obi's international boss Jesper Mikkelsen has neatly summed up what makes the striker so devastating at youth level.

"When you look at Chido, he doesn't look like someone who hasn't turned 16 yet. First of all, he has a physique that is really advantageous as a football player," he told Bold. "He is big and strong, but he is also reasonably agile. He is good at sticking to the game, but he is actually also good at challenging and dribbling himself."

All of this is immediately obvious when you watch him play. He towers above most of his opponents in Under-18 games and is often the quickest player on the field by a stretch too. Thanks to these physical gifts, he's able to create plenty of chances for himself and he takes a decent proportion of them thanks to excellent finishing capabilities.

Martin-Obi is particularly deadly with his right foot and his signature finish is swiftly becoming an open-body slot into the bottom corner. Thierry Henry would be proud. Henry also would have enjoyed his impudent chip against West Ham in April.

Mikkelsen has also pinpointed a few areas for improvement. "He has scored many goals for us," he said, "and he has been a real handful for our opponents, but it is also important that he gets better at playing together with his team-mates. His greatest characteristic and challenge is that he really wants to score goals. He can sometimes play his own game."

It's not the worst thing in the world that Martin-Obi is hyper-focused on finding the net himself. He wouldn't have attracted this much attention at such a tender age without a certain level of selfishness in front of goal, but honing his creative abilities should still be a long-term target.

Elsewhere, while not really being an area to improve, Martin-Obi - and those around him - should be wary of keeping their feet on the ground and managing expectations. It's difficult not to get excited about a player who's scored so many goals by the age of 16, however, when his evident physical advantages disappear in the senior ranks, Martin-Obi will not be able to be as dominant.

Looking at the Premier League Under-18 top scorers from recent years only drives home the need for patience and understanding. Martell Taylor-Crossdale, the 2016-17 Golden Boot winner, is currently with Welling in the sixth tier, while Reo Griffiths, 2017-18's top scorer, plays for Portland Timbers 2.

Martin-Obi does feel a cut above these two, but he still must be given time to develop without too much pressure.

Anyway, enough being sensible - let's compare him to one of the greatest, active goalscorers in modern football. When Erling Haaland was coming through, what made him stand out was his unstoppable blend of physicality and technical brilliance.

Martin-Obi isn't quite on the same level, but there's clearly similarities, with social media already beginning to draw comparisons between the pair. Thanks to his Nigerian roots, he's also been likened to Napoli sensation Victor Osimhen.

Legendary Arsenal striker Ian Wright has been impressed by the youngster too. "He's 15, honestly, he's like 6 foot 2, he looks really quick," he said earlier this year.

Over the past few months it became clear that Arsenal would face a hard fight to keep hold of Martin-Obi beyond his schoolboy contract. Various reports claimed that scholarship terms had been tabled, with Bayern and Dortmund ready to pounce on any indecision as players can sign professional deals at 16 in Germany.

For his part, Martin-Obi did not publicly appear to be looking for a way out of his boyhood club. “I would like to stay at Arsenal for a long time," he had told Bold. "It's a good club, I can feel that I'm getting much better in training. There are a lot of good people and good coaches, so I'm really happy to be there."

Mikel Arteta had also done his best to make him feel welcome during his time training with the senior ranks too. "I have trained six times with the first team, so we have talked, but it has not been a big deal. [Arteta] just praises me all the time and says nice things, so it's very nice. Of course it makes me proud."

Despite this, Martin-Obi clearly had some trepidation about committing his future to Arsenal. For all of his transformative work in the Emirates hotseat, a persistent criticism of Arteta has been his refusal to bed Hale End graduates into the senior side. Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson have both seen their progress stunted over the past few seasons, while the summer departure of former Under-18s team-mate Walters proves that there is an alternative path for Arsenal youngsters to take.

And after signing with the Elite Project Group agency - who also represent the likes of Folarin Balogun, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka - earlier this year, United began to take note of his situation. In mid July, according to The Athletic, Martin-Obi visited the club's Carrington training base after deciding to reject what Arsenal believe was a "very fair" offer.

Whether the two German giants decide to rekindle their interest before United complete a deal remains to be seen. From Arsenal's perspective, though, Martin-Obi's decision to move on is clearly a real blow. Nothing is guaranteed in football, but if he can translate even some of his goal-scoring touch to the senior ranks, they will rue the events that have led to his premature exit.