Former coach of the senior Danish female team, Kenneth Heiner-Møller, has revealed the Denmark Football Association are in no rush reduce Chido Obi-Martin’s international choices by making him cap-tied, Soccernet.ng reports.
The 17-year-old lanky striker joined Manchester United from Arsenal last summer, and is one of the brightest prospects at the Carrington academy. He’s most famous for scoring five goals in one half of a football game against Liverpool’s youth team.
Obi-Martin was born in Glostrup, Denmark to a Danish Mother and a Nigerian Father and is also eligible to represent England. He’s played for the English and Danish youth teams on multiple occasions.
Despite his plethora of international options, the former Arsenal man once mentioned he feels more secure representing the Danish National team.
“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 2007-born striker said as previously reported by Soccernet.ng.
Heiner-Møller, who’s currently the head of talent at the Danish Football Association, has revealed the nation as a whole would be downcast if they lose such a huge talent to another nation.
“That would be very sad. If we were a club, we could offer him a bigger contract, better terms, a bigger car and a villa, but we are not a club, so we can only offer him to play in a Danish national team shirt. There is not much we can do,” the 53-year-old said as revealed by Danish outlet, BT Fobdold.
Additionally, Heiner-Møller added Denmark have no intentions to tie the player down without a mutual agreement, leaving Obi-Martin the choice to select the national team he’d love to represent.
“I hope that Chido will play for the Danish A national team, but I can guarantee you that he will never, ever be selected for the A national team only with the aim of tying him to Denmark.
I am well aware that there are some other countries that look at this sort of thing differently, and there will probably be some who think that it is unambitious and frivolous of us, but there are just other things that count more for us.
We are not going to bind anyone to a national team that they do not want to represent in the long term. I hope that Chido and everyone else who has multiple citizenships will choose what they think is right, and I mean that completely sincerely.”
Chido Obi-Martin has scored five goals in five U-18 Premier League games for Manchester United.
