Ruben Amorim admits highly-rated Chido Obi was given Man Utd breakthrough ‘too soon’ & fires warning to academy players as Carrington graduates are overlooked

“He [Chido] played last year, but I think it was too soon,” Amorim said when asked about Obi’s chances of stepping in. “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.” 

On Lacey, he added: “I’m really happy with him. He struggled a little bit with injuries but they did a very good job balancing his body and you can sense he can manage more load during training. He has a lot of talent but when they come here they can sense the speed is completely different, so they need to spend more time with us to be prepared because our training is hard.”

Amorim also addressed the broader academy link: “When you call a kid up to the first team, they need to behave really well. This connection is really important. We are putting everything in place – a nutritionist for the academy starts now – in our club. That is something that should be basic. All these things we are doing, so I have more time with them and I’m more confident with them. When we put these kids in to play in the Premier League, they will struggle, but will struggle less I think.”

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