Denmark have their sights set on Arsenal‘s young prodigy, Chidozie Obi-Martin, who is also eligible to play for England.
The 15-year-old striker, with an impressive record at both club and international youth levels, has sparked interest from various quarters due to his remarkable talent and has been making headlines with a 10-goal haul against Liverpool.
Obi-Martin’s exploits with Arsenal’s U16 team have been nothing short of sensational, as evidenced by his 10-goal haul against Liverpool this weekend.
Despite his tender age, Obi-Martin has already made appearances for the Gunners’ U21 team and participated in training sessions with the first team.
Denmark’s manager, Kasper Hjulmand, speaking at a press conference prior to Denmark’s match against Northern Ireland on Monday, acknowledged his awareness of Obi-Martin’s existence.
“I know him well and have seen him play. As with many other 15-year-olds, this is a guy I know well in our system,” Hjulmand said but would not be drawn further on the player.
The teenager, who has donned the Danish national colours nine times for the U17 team, finds himself at a crossroads, with the possibility of representing either England or Denmark at the senior level.
Obi-Martin’s dual eligibility has been a topic of interest, with both nations recognising his potential.
Jesper Mikkelsen, Denmark’s U17 coach, expressed optimism regarding Obi-Martin’s continued association with the Danish team.
“He is not locked to Denmark. As I have been explained the rules, you can change once when you have played current matches,” Mikkelsen said.
“So that means that ‘Chido’ can actually change once more, because now he has played qualifiers for us like we did in October.
“But if he moves here to England, you can’t switch back. That is how I understood it.
“I’m not nervous about that because we’re not going to do anything about it. I think it must be tempting to play inside Parken and have that as a goal.
“I just relate to the fact that ‘Chido’ and his family have agreed that he would like to play for Denmark.
“If he chooses to do it differently at some point, it’s kind of out of our hands.
“We just make sure he’s comfortable and happy so he can see there’s a plan for him.”
England, too, have recognised Obi-Martin’s talent. The young striker briefly switched to England’s U16 team before returning to Denmark.