Ex-Arsenal striker called out by manager again | OneFootball

Ruben Amorim has called out former Arsenal academy striker Chido Obi for the second press conference in the space of a few weeks.

Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images

At the height of the hype around his future in football, Chido Obi swapped the Arsenal academy for Manchester United’s last October. The early signs at his new club were positive, with Ruben Amorim giving him his first-team debut and a total of eight appearances last season.

Yet Obi has had far less involvement with United’s senior side in 2025/26. He hasn’t made the first-team squad for a game so far, and recently he’s struggled to even get minutes for the u21s.

Speaking to the media in late November, Amorim admitted they’d promoted the striker too early.

Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images

“He [Chido] played last year, but I think it was too soon,” Amorim said. “We didn’t have a team we could put a young kid of 16 into and him not struggle. He’s one of the guys but he started too soon.

“Sometimes it’s hard to deal with that, with the kids, because they think that ‘I’m already here’. We need to be careful with that.”

Then, last weekend, Amorim again called out Obi during a rant about Kobbie Mainoo, in an attempt to justify his decision to leave Mainoo out.

“I don’t know what is going to be the future (for Mainoo),” Amorim said. “Let’s see after this match. (Harry) Amass is now struggling in the Championship. Chido (Obi) is not always a starter in under 21s.

“All these guys played when a lot of people were saying sack the manager!”

Photo via Martin Obi on Instagram

Obi hasn’t been in terrible form for the Manchester United academy, racking up five goals and two assists in 13 games. But his last Premier League 2 start was on September 21st, so it’s clear he’s out of favour.

The striker will need to turn things around with the academy teams before he can start to think about convincing Amorim to call him back up.