Phil Jones has been working with the Man Utd U18 coaching staff and he has been impressed by Chido Obi.
Phil Jones has labelled Manchester United’s Chido Obi “an animal”.
Obi recently scored a hat-trick against Chelsea, which fired the Under-18s into the FA Youth Cup quarter-final, and he was given his first-team debut a few days later against Tottenham.
The prolific youth striker will be hoping to be in Ruben Amorim’s plans for the remainder of the season, and he will continue to play a crucial role in the U18s’ campaign in the Youth Cup.
Former United player Jones has worked closely with Obi this season, as he joined the U18s’ coaching staff in 2023/24 while studying for his coaching badges. That arrangement was extended into the new campaign, meaning Jones has coached Obi since his transfer from Arsenal.
Earlier this week, Jones spoke to the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast and he provided his thoughts on the emerging talent at United, which included praise for the exciting Obi.
“Working in and around the academy and helping those young players develop, United have some really good and talented young players coming through,” explained Jones.
“The squad had a lot of injuries against Tottenham and the bench was full of kids, but there were some talented players on that bench. People might not know a lot about them now, but they certainly will in the next few years. I think if you look at Kobbie Mainoo, top player…
“You look at Chido (Obi), who we’ve just signed from Arsenal, who’s an animal, you look at Amad, who had a couple of really good loans, and I remember watching him winning it against Liverpool in extra time last season and I had said at that time he’d play a huge part in the next season.
“I played with Amad and you could see his quality was really good and really strong. As I said there’s a great crop of young players ready to be given the chance and integrated into the team.”
Jones isn’t officially employed by United, but his role at the club is considered mutually beneficial because he gains coaching experience, while academy players get the opportunity to learn from someone who spent 12 years at Old Trafford and made 288 appearances during his career.
The coaching role is part-time and sees him mostly doing matchdays and taking a few training sessions.
Jones’ praise for Obi came shortly after his first senior appearance for United and the youngster already has seven goals in the FA Youth Cup, which is the same number as Alejandro Garnacho scored in the competition when the U18s last won the trophy in the 2021/22 season.
2025-02-19 09:20:58
