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Who is Chido Obi-Martin? The Arsenal wonderkid who scored seven goals against Norwich

Chido Obi-Martin
Chido Obi-Martin with the match ball after scoring a hat trick for Arsenal -Credit:2023 The Arsenal Football Club Plc


Arsenal academy star Chido Obi-Martin has hit the headlines once again after scoring seven goals in a remarkable 9-0 victory for the Gunners' under-18s side on Saturday afternoon.

The 16-year-old attacker has now scored 28 goals in his last 16 games at U18s level, having also scored five against West Ham United, four versus Crystal Palace and four against Fulham.

In doing so, Obi-Martin has broken Folarin Balogun’s record for the most goals for Arsenal U18s in a season, which was 25, set during the 2018/19 campaign.

Mikel Arteta will certainly be taking an interest in the teenager, who also scored a staggering ten goals in a 14-3 triumph versus Liverpool under-16s back in November. He has also represented the Gunners in the UEFA Youth League matches involving Sevilla and Lens, as well as making two substitute appearances at Premier League 2 level.

The Danish youngster was born in 2007 in Glostrup on the outskirts of Copenhagen and moved to the UK as a teenager. He has played for both England and Denmark's national teams at youth level - and is also eligible to represent Nigeria. But it looks more likely to be Denmark currently, with him recently scoring ten times in 14 games for their Under-17s, including four in a 6-2 win against Norway.

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The young star's coach at international level Jesper Mikkelsen spoke to Bold (via Tribal Football) about the Arsenal attacker's best qualities, offering an exciting view on the 16-year-old's promise. "Right now he is really dominant because of his physique, but I don't think that is the only reason," Mikkelsen said. "His greatest characteristic and challenge is that he really wants to score goals.

"When I say it can also be a disadvantage, I mean that he can sometimes play his own game. He is very searching for chances, where he forgets that you also have to play with the others."

Whether Obi-Martin chooses to stick with Denmark, or switch to England or Nigeria, his latest exploits will only fuel the fire on his promise for the future. Gunners icon Ian Wright recently picked the attacker out as one to watch, stating: "Chido Obi-Martin, he’s 15, honestly, he’s like 6 foot 2, he looks really quick."

It may be too early for Obi-Martin to realistically consider representing Arsenal's first team on a regular basis, but Arteta has already shown he will place faith in young talent with Ethan Nwaneri making his Gunners debut at the age of 15 last season.