Manchester United Under-21s boss Travis Binnion has insisted that they’ve barely scratched the surface of what Chido Obi is capable of, following his superb performance in the victory over Manchester City.
Obi scores against City
Obi found himself on the score sheet as the Under-21s maintained their perfect start to the new season with a 2-1 win over City last weekend.
He grabbed the opener before Amir Ibragimov turned in a Shea Lacey cross for the second of the match.
Obi has enjoyed a drastic rise to stardom since joining United last summer from Arsenal. He made his senior debut for United in February, during a loss against Tottenham Hotspur. He went on to make eight senior appearances for United and scored twice in the comeback triumph over Hong Kong in the post-season tour.
However, so far this term, Obi has not been included in a matchday squad by Ruben Amorim. This follows the signing of Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig.
Binnion spoke to Manchester Evening News and addressed Obi’s first-team prospects as well as the youngster’s progress.
Binnion’s remarks on Obi
Binnion told the newspaper, “He deserved it [goal against City]. I thought the last 15 minutes of the first half, he started to have joy against the two centre halves. It’s not easy for him because people look at him like he’s a big kid. The key thing there is he’s still very young, he’s still learning his game.”
“Because he’s had exposure with the first-team, I think people expect performance levels that are really consistent and really high. You’ve got first-team players across the country who don’t do that.”
“The expectation on him is high, but he has to deliver the basics, and what he did from minute 30 to 80 when he came off is he pressed, he ran and he occupied two centre halves to give other players space on the pitch to exploit, which is why we dominated the ball.”
The United coach continued, “They [City] will say they are not scared of him, but they defended two versus one against him all day. I’m pleased he got his goal because you can toil up there, not touch it, not do a lot, but he got his goal and set us on our way.”
“I’m really pleased with him and we haven’t even scraped the top of the iceberg with him. He’s got loads to come.”
“That will come from how he sees the game, keeps working hard and recognises he has stuff to develop because that’s always a challenge when you have that first-team exposure and then you go away and have to start working on things.”
Binnion gives thoughts on Obi’s first-team chances
On Obi fully breaking into Amorim’s plans, Binnion stressed that the 17-year-old must continue working hard and be patient as opportunities are bound to come.
“When you score as many goals as he has throughout his relatively short life, you can define yourself by goals. And we all know there’s probably only two or three strikers in the world who get two goals in every three games. If you’re used to scoring two goals in every game, then recognising what the role is, how you have to go around it takes a little bit of time. He is dying to be a footballer.”
“He is hungry. And he’s still learning the game, learning how to project himself and learning how to play within a team, the club’s shape and system, so there’s still lots for him to do.”
“The key is he wants to play, he wants to do well and wants to train. He could train every day if he could.”
“It’s hard. He’s not on his own, it’s really hard. Lads get in there [first-team squad], and then they don’t play games, so that is a different challenge. I think sometimes now, Chido will get opportunities with the first-team to train because he’s a really important player, but he gets the opportunity to really work at his game and we can work with him.”
Binnion pointed out that Obi is in a “golden period” of development, urging him to take full advantage to achieve his ambitions.
Featured image Matt McNulty via Getty Images
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Derick Kinoti
Derick Kinoti is a football writer at The Peoples Person who has covered Manchester United and the game extensively for many years. He is a keen analyst with expertise in SEO and journalism standards. Derick is convinced Wayne Rooney is the true GOAT and won’t hear otherwise!
