Chido Obi-Martin: Can Nigeria snatch Manchester United youngster from the hands of Denmark?

Manchester United teenage youngster, Chido Obi-Martin, has been on the lips of many after impressing for a destabilized Ruben Amorim side this season, Soccernet.ng reports.

His decision to leave Arsenal for the Red Devils in the summer stirred a few discourses, but it appears his decision has been justified. He’s been slowly integrated into the first team at Old Trafford amidst the chaos under Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

The 17-year-old was born in Glostrup, a little town inside Copenhagen, Denmark, to a Danish Mother and a Nigerian Father and is also eligible to represent England since he moved there as a child.

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Will Chido Obi-Martin play for the Super Eagles of Nigeria?

Obi-Martin, alongside Joshua Zirkzee, recently went viral on social media for a comment that hinted at a form of Nigerian bond between the pair, which has sparked many questions about the possibility of a Super Eagles call-up in the future. Zirkzee is tied down to the Netherlands, but Obi-Martin could change his mind in the future.

The Nigeria-eligible striker once turned out for the England U-16 team in 2023, featuring in two games for the Three Lions youth side, despite playing for Denmark’s U-16 prior.

Since that time, he has returned to the Denmark U-17 side, scoring nine times in eleven games, and made an official statement to commit his future to the De Rød-Hvide last year.

“I was born in Denmark, I have better friends in Denmark, and I’m just really happy to play for Denmark. In Denmark, I have better teammates. It is easier to speak the language because I have lived longer in Denmark, so it just makes better sense. I hope to be able to play in the Danish national team for a long time, so I hope it’s just Denmark.”

“My dream is to win big things. For a long time, I have dreamed of winning the European Championship or World Cup with Denmark, so it will be great,” the young striker said as previously reported by Soccernet.ng.

However, the Danish national team are in no rush to integrate the teenager into their first team to make him cap-tied.

Former coach of the senior Danish female team, Kenneth Heiner-Møller, who’s currently the head of talent at the Danish Football Association, has revealed the nation as a whole would be downcast if they lose such a huge talent to another nation.

“That would be very sad. If we were a club, we could offer him a bigger contract, better terms, a bigger car and a villa, but we are not a club, so we can only offer him to play in a Danish national team shirt. There is not much we can do.”

“I hope that Chido will play for the Danish A national team, but I can guarantee you that he will never, ever be selected for the A national team only to tie him to Denmark.

“I am well aware that there are some other countries that look at this sort of thing differently, and there will probably be some who think that it is unambitious and frivolous of us, but there are just other things that count more for us.

We are not going to bind anyone to a national team that they do not want to represent in the long term. I hope that Chido and everyone else who has multiple citizenships will choose what they think is right, and I mean that completely sincerely,” the 53-year-old said as previously reported by Soccernet.ng.

Additionally, the head coach of the Denmark national team, Brian Riemer, is confident Chido Obi-Martin has his heart set on the Danish senior team rather than the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

“I have had conversations with him, and there has been ongoing dialogue with my colleagues in the DBU. He is a super exciting place, and we have praised him and patted him on the back.

“When you are 17 years old and can play for Manchester United, you should be praised. On the Danish A-team, you want to play consistently, so the next step for him is to stick with Manchester United, but he is a player that we do a lot to follow closely, and we see him having an exciting future in Danish national football. We are doing a lot to keep him in Danish national football.

“Fortunately, he is a good kid who also feels Danish, so a lot is being done across the national team and management,” the 46-year-old said in an interview with Bold DK.

In conclusion, it appears that Denmark have everything in place to integrate the teenager into their team, but they want to ease him gently as he matures as an all-round footballer. Except Chido Obi-Martin has a change of heart in the future, the chances of a national team switch are close to being non-existent.