We start off the week with the news that Chido Obi-Martin is almost certainly off to Manchester United.
Whilst it is disappointing to see a young talent leave, it is telling that he (or his people) have basically spent the last month or so being pumped around Europe looking for the most money possible. It is never a good sign for a 16-year-old to be driven by money, under the control of his handlers who do not care about his career.
But we should not be surprised. We poached Obi-Martin at 14-years-old from his local Danish side KB.
What I find interesting is the same fans crying that “Obi-Martin is leaving Arsenal because he has not been given a chance” are the same fans who are crying that we have yet to sign a new striker.
An incoming striker would put the youngster one step further away from the first team. You either keep Kai Havertz as your first choice, GabrielJesus as second and promote Obi-Martin as 3rd, or purchase a new striker, who is then back up by Kai and Jesus, and then Obi-Martin is 4th.
Some will try and make the case that Obi-Martin should be starting ahead of Havertz and Jesus. These fans do not realise how big the step up is. Plenty of young talented strikers in the past have struggled to make that transition.
Whenever I have seen clips of Obi-Martin, it is clear that he gets a lot of his goals due to being bigger, stronger, quicker and more powerful than those also playing at an U18 level. As players move into the senior level, physical attributes becomes less important. And many dominating forces at youth level have looked very average when playing with men.
His initial contract with Man U will be the standard 2-year one. I would not be surprised if history continues to repeat itself and he ends up leaving them for a free in 2026, once again moving to the highest bidder.
As the team continue their pre-season preparations, I would not be surprised if this week sees some incomings.
Nuno Tavares and Albert Sambi Lokonga have departed. That frees up the squad place and avoids us of becoming a Chelsea (having players getting changes in corridors because you have too many!).
Italian fella will probably be first in the door, followed by that young keeper at Ajax and then potentially out 4th keeper signing of the summer in Dan Bentley from Wolves.
For those concerned about why we are potentially signing 4 keepers this summer, please remember we have released four 20-something keepers from the academy, so two are replacing them. The other two coming in are David Raya and an Aaron Ramsdale replacement.
Enjoy your Monday.
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 
I don’t think Bentley is coming in to replace Ramsdale, he’s coming in as 3rd choice to allow Hein to be loaned out.
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Could it be both? Bentley comes in as 2nd choice (for this season). Hein goes out on loan (with a recall option) and one of the new 18-year-olds is promoted to 3rd choice – all keepers tend to train together anyway.
In a year, if Hein has proved himself then he returns as 2nd choice, with Bentley then demoted. If he has not proved himself, we then look to go back into the market for a new 2nd choice (or keep Bentley as 2nd choice and Hein as 3rd)
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”You either keep Kai Havertz as your first choice, GabrielJesus as second and promote Obi-Martin as 3rd, or purchase a new striker, who is then back up by Kai and Jesus, and then Obi-Martin is 4th.”
or sell Jesus or consider him as back up to Saka
then Obi still 3rd
what you don’t do , unlike Arteta, is NEVER start a teenager in the prem, or bring on Cedric when 4-0 up with 15 mins left and leave teens on bench
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Even if Jesus is Saka’s cover and competition, he would still be ahead of Obi Martin as 3rd choice striker. I am not sure why you are proposing weakening our squad by selling a Brazilian international and replacing him with a 16 year old who has not even played PL2 level yet…
As for your Cedric comment, he played just 59 minutes last season. Lets not pretend he “stole” minutes from teenagers. 59 minutes worth of game time would have done nothing for a players development
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