Summer signing Chido Obi-Martin marked his first start for Manchester United’s Under-18s by bagging a brilliant hat-trick within the opening 15 minutes against Nottingham Forest.

United hosted Forest at Carrington on Saturday afternoon.

Obi-Martin is widely regarded as one of the best strikers in his age group and emerged as a top talent at Arsenal.

Last term, he managed a mind-boggling 32 goals in 24 appearances at youth level for the Gunners and even trained with the first team.

He once scored 10 goals in a single game against Liverpool for Arsenal’s Under-16s. The Gunners made several attempts to try and keep Obi-Martin at the Emirates but he turned them down in favour of signing for United

The teenager made his first appearance for United’s Under-18 side last week when he came on from the bench in a 4-3 win against Sunderland.

There was a lot of excitement when he was included in the starting XI for the meeting with Forest and he certainly didn’t disappoint the fans.

Obi-Martin put the Red Devils ahead with just 13 seconds on the clock, pouncing on a poor back-pass before rounding the Forest goalkeeper and guiding the ball into the back of an empty net.

Four minutes later, Obi-Martin was at it again, this time drilling home a shot into the bottom corner after the visitors failed to clear their lines.

He completed his hat-trick at the quarter-hour mark, as he latched onto a superb cross from James Scanlon and produced an excellent finish from just outside the penalty area.

Earlier this week, it emerged that staff at Old Trafford expected Obi-Martin to make the jump to the Under-21 level in next to no time and he’s certainly proving them right.

Obi-Martin was substituted at half-time against Forest, but his memorable full debut for United is one he’ll undoubtedly never forget.



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