Chido Obi

Rossa said:
Exactly - talent, and then he became a great player. He wasn’t a great player at 19 - he was a talent. Very, very few players are world class that early. So he had a transfer to Ajax at 19. odi is 17!!! And he has featured for United.
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He wasn't just some talent, he was THE talent. His transfer was a Swedish record fee at the time, not just some random transfer to Ajax. He arrived in Amsterdam with comparisons to van Basten among others. And you just seem to base your opinion on some second-hand feedback from a random opposition player from his Malmö days.
 
BarstoolProphet said:
He wasn't just some talent, he was THE talent. His transfer was a Swedish record fee at the time, not just some random transfer to Ajax. He arrived in Amsterdam with comparisons to van Basten among others. And you just seem to base your opinion on some second-hand feedback from a random opposition player from his Malmö days.
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Sure, he might have been - he just said he wasn't the greatest player at the time, but he was undoubtedly a big talent. I don't see the controversy. He went to Ajax at almost 20 - that's what I would call a fairly normal trajectory. It's not like he played for Barca at 16 at a world class level - that would be an exception. Also, listening to someone who has played at the highest level and has worked as a coach at a high level is probably worth listening to - some very interesting insights. Arshavin was, for instance, bloody good, according to him.

Also, there have been plenty of THE talents around - some amount to something and many fall into oblivion.
 
Mickson said:
I don't think you know what early development means.
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Then explain it, oh wise one.

If his development was say 2 years "early", then how come he was still able to bang them in at almost 2 goals per game against players 2 years older (perhaps more in line with his actual development stage, as you claim).
 
goldenboy said:
Then explain it, oh wise one.

If his development was say 2 years "early", then how come he was still able to bang them in at almost 2 goals per game against players 2 years older (perhaps more in line with his actual development stage, as you claim).
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Because he developed early...?
 
Mickson said:
Because he developed early...?
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How "early" did he develop?

Again, him developing, say, 2 years "early", does not explain how he was still so good against players 2 years older than him - scoring almost 2 goals per game at u18 level as a 15/early 16 year-old...

If his impressive performances were just due to him having developed "early" then how did he manage such impressive showings against players much older than him (and likely at more similar stages of their development according to you)?...
 
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SubutaiScipio said:
You are just speculating, and you are likely wrong. Rooney maxed out at 5'9. Chido is about 5-6 inches taller already. Rooney had adult strength as a teenager and his early development was in muscle development and strength.

Obi, in contrast, is yet to really develop strength and muscle which is in keeping with others of his age. The early development he has had really was mainly in height and a little bit of power. He will still get much stronger as he feels out his skinny frame.

A better example in the present squad of a player with Rooney-like early physical development and who has maxed out physically is Kukonki.
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Exactly, good post. The contrast with Kukonki is a useful one.


Hammondo said:
Obi in U18 was more developed in terms of strength and muscle. He bullied everyone like he was an adult.
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Pure nonsense. You're just showing you've not watched much of him. If anything he reminds me a bit of a Sesko, in that if anything he can be a bit too passive, and his still gangly frame is one he's not yet managed to convert and utilise regularly as one which can bully defenders.

If you look at his goals for Arsenal u18s in the 23/24 season when he's 15/mostly early 16, then as of half-way through there is still only 1 which involves him directly out-muscling any of his opponents (and that's just a fairly small opposition CM for Palace who kinda runs in to him at 00:40). His goals against older players were not reliant on him "bullying" opponents at all:


 
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Mickson said:
Pretty much. If he can become a player about Hojlund's quality, it would be very good.
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That's another very vague reply - do you mean the 10 goals in 30 Premier League games not terrible first season Hojlund, or the 4 goals in 32 Premier League games completely hopeless, out of confidence second season Hojlund?...
 
goldenboy said:
That's another very vague reply - do you mean the 10 goals in 30 Premier League games not terrible first season Hojlund, or the 4 goals in 32 Premier League games completely hopeless, out of confidence second season Hojlund?...
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I mean what I said, a player with Hojlund's quality.
 
I don’t know what’s happened to spur this sudden spate of negativity from the experts, but people do realise that development is not linear right? Players don’t keep developing at the same steady rate every year? Development often comes in bursts and is often tied to the extreme physical and playing level changes at that age. It’s also worth noting that the brain of young men is going through radical changes from 15 to 24, and as top level sport is 90% mental, that’s one of the most important development arcs that is constantly overlooked.

Fact is, I doubt anyone here truly knows how good he will really become or what his potential really is. I am 100% convinced that how good a player will become is 90+% down to how dedicated they are to improving and how hard they work. The other 10% are the things we tend to focus on in here because they are more obvious.

You need young players to go through adversity and struggle because the ability to rise above it and get better is what makes them great in the first place. Players like Rooney or Messi etc., will have had tough times, it didn’t just naturally come easily to them, but they had a relentless determination to be better. A fearlessness. Ronaldo at 17 had so many flaws in his game it was unreal. Even at 20 he was a relentless show pony who couldn’t do the simple well enough. There were fans back then who questioned his ability to consistently deliver end product, and he was seen behind Rooney. But, as much of a massive wanker that he is, one thing Ronaldo did better than everyone else around him was work hard. First cnut in training, last one to leave. And he listened.

The focus on youth football by fans and the media is extremely unhealthy. The spotlight put on players who are 15/16/17 is ridiculous. There are very, very few people who are qualified to assess players at that age, and those that are work with them daily and know their character.
 
Mickson said:
I mean what I said, a player with Hojlund's quality.
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But is "a player with Hojlund's quality" a Premier League level striker or not?... That was what the question posed.

What would Hojlund's level of quality even be? Is it, say: a player with title-contention PL quality, a player with top 4 PL quality, a player with top-half PL quality, a player with bottom-half PL quality, or not really PL standard/relegation-level quality?

In his second season, 22 year-old Hojlund was arguably not even Premier League quality.
 
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15 games / 962 minutes of football / 9 (G+A).

He is averaging a G+A every 100 minutes for the U21.

Not a bad start but I would like to see him increase his chance conversion over this season.
 
Mickson said:
In my opinion, he hasn't. His touch, technique, in-game intelligence and such, which you can see from a very young age, isn't up to the standard
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I read a lot of the discussions on the matter and I really enjoyed the points made on both sides and I do not mean to jump on the discussion this late, but this comment above caught my eye.

I'll admit, I have not seen the kid play at all aside from his cameos with the first team last season, so i decided to watch YT all touches compilations for this season, and one thing that stood out to me was that his touch, especially first touch and control, and play with back to goal is quite good, his technique is quite good for shooting, running with the ball, he is not much of a dribbler but he can get away from the first man to make a space to shoot, his distribution is erratic at times and he misplaces his passes quite a bit but he is not too bad at that, I can't say much of his in-game intelligence except that he does a good job at timing his runs but his decision making in attacking moments can be improved (he could pass instead of shooting for example). Again I am saying all this without watching any full games he played in, the best I could do to get a grasp of what he could do was watching those YT all touches compilations, probably not enough but it gives a better picture of what can he do with the ball.

None of that is to say he will become a superstar or even good enough to have a career at the top level, but his basics and foundations seems to be solid for an 18 yo who still has a long way to be any good.
 
simonhch said:
I don’t know what’s happened to spur this sudden spate of negativity from the experts
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It's just two evidently clueless posters jumping in with a "hot take" that they can't back-up with any kind of evidence or precision.
 
Has he done enough to get pushed back up to the 1st team in case we have to slowly ease Sesko back into the team? Or we just stick with Zirkzee?
 
sglowrider said:
Has he done enough to get pushed back up to the 1st team in case we have to slowly ease Sesko back into the team? Or we just stick with Zirkzee?
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Probably needs more time, but he's doing well for a 17 almost 18yo playing in our u21s.

I'm hoping he can gain an extra yard of acceleration as his muscles develop.
 
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