Arsenal's Decision on Chido Obi-Martin Loan

Arsenal will not be rushed into a decision on 16-year-old sensation Chido Obi-Martin, despite mounting interest from clubs keen to take him on loan once he turns 17.

The teenager, who lit up the Carabao Cup with a brace against Ipswich on Tuesday night, has already prompted enquiries from sides hoping to fast-track his development away from north London. Those calls are being parked for now.

Mikel Arteta made it clear Arsenal’s plan is to keep him close.

“We haven't really listened to any of the possibilities because we were crystal clear that we wanted to have him in the squad,” Arteta said. “That we wanted him to be part of the pre-season and then start to see where we are from there. We will evaluate every six months, where we are and what is the best thing for him to do and then make the right decision.”

So the message is firm but not final. Arsenal are not open to a loan at this stage, yet Arteta pointedly refused to close the door on a change of stance once the forward turns 17 at the end of December.

Arteta knows the dilemma well. He left Barcelona’s academy as a teenager to join Paris Saint-Germain and did not shy away from the idea that a loan at 17 can work.

“There have been many cases of that age when they have gone out and been successful and others not,” he said. “In my particular case I was 17 when I went to Paris. It depends on the atmosphere that you find there and how much the coach believes in you, whether you go there just to be part of a squad or play minutes. Which country, it depends.”

That nuance runs through Arsenal’s wider youth strategy. After three years training around the first team, the club chose to send Ethan Nwaneri on loan to Marseille for the second half of last season. For Obi-Martin, the equation will be similar but not identical.

“It depends on a lot of factors – what he needs and what the team needs as well, the availability we have in the squad, the minutes that he is playing and the qualities of those minutes,” Arteta explained.

For now, the 16-year-old stays where he is: in and around Arsenal’s senior group, scoring when called upon, and forcing his manager to keep revisiting that six‑month question.