United scramble to clamp down on “toxic” Chido Obi problem amid his rise to stardom – report

Manchester United have reportedly taken decisive steps to deal with online copycats pretending to be Chido Obi.

Obi – the goalscoring prodigy plucked from Arsenal in the summer – has been catapulted into stardom amidst his meteoric rise at United.

He was handed his senior United debut last month, coming on as a substitute in added time against Tottenham Hotspur.

The 17-year-old has featured in three of the Red Devils’ last four games across all competitions. He especially caught the eye during Sunday’s FA Cup exit at the hands of Fulham.

Obi replaced Rasmus Hojlund in the 68th minute of proceedings and provided significantly more attacking thrust than his Danish counterpart.

The youngster was presented with three big chances, one of which nearly won the game for United in extra time, but he was thwarted by Bernd Leno. His brief cameo earned him rave reviews from legends of the game like Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney. 

The increased attention on Obi has also come with its own fair share of problems including social media impersonators.

According to the Daily Mail, this issue is prevalent on X (formerly Twitter), where several accounts have mushroomed claiming to be the player himself. Most United players consider the app “toxic” and have opted for Instagram instead.

“The club are particularly protective when it comes to this problem for academy players and Confidential understands that United staff have moved swiftly to come to the aid of Chido Obi after a number of hoax pages emerged around his first-team debut.”

“These accounts would often lift Obi’s material and imagery from Instagram verbatim and then purport to be him on other platforms, fooling thousands.”

The newspaper confirms that Obi only runs two accounts – his Instagram page and TikTok account. He doesn’t have an account on X.

It’s understood United will continue monitoring multiple platforms to clamp down on copycats.

Featured image Justin Setterfield via Getty Images

Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social