“I have better teammates” – Nigeria-eligible Arsenal striker pledges allegiance to Denmark

Arsenal Under-18 striker, Chidozie Obi-Martin, has pledged his future to the Danish National team, ditching Nigeria and England, Soccernet.ng reports.

Obi was born in Glostrup -a little town inside Copenhagen, Denmark to a Danish Mother and a Nigerian Father and is also eligible to represent England since he moved there as a child.

The 16-year-old once turned out for the England U-16 team last year, featuring in two games for the Three Lions youth side, despite playing for Denmark's U-16 prior.

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Since that time, he has returned to the Denmark U-17 side, scoring nine times in eleven games, and made an official statement to commit his future to the De Rød-Hvide.

“I was born in Denmark, I have better friends in Denmark and I'm just really happy to play for Denmark. In Denmark, I have better teammates. It is easier to speak the language because I have lived longer in Denmark, so it just makes better sense. I hope to be able to play in the Danish national team for a long time, so I hope it's just Denmark,” the 2006-born striker told Danish news outlet, Bold DK.

Chidozie Obi hopes to have a successful career with the Danish national team as he looks to succeed the outgoing generation of the aging Christian Eriksen and Kasper Schmeichel.

“My dream is to win big things, for a long time I have dreamed of winning the European Championship or World Cup with Denmark, so it will be great,” the young striker added.

In his first start for Arsenal's under-18 side, he scored a hat-trick in a 4–0 win against Southampton last year, drawing comparisons to Napoli striker Victor Osimhen in the Danish media.

The following month he made his first appearance for the club's under-21 side, aged just fifteen and was called up to the senior squad's training by Mikel Arteta the following month. He made the headlines that month as he scored ten goals in the 14-3 win over Liverpool's U-16 side.

 

N.B: We’d like to know your thoughts. Do you think Chidozie Obi-Martin made the right choice by choosing Denmark? Are his reasons valid? Let us know in the comments.