Ruben Amorim names the 17-year-old Man United academy star he played 'too soon' last season - and now fears he thinks 'I'm already here'

Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has admitted he pushed teenager Chido Obi into first-team football ‘too soon’ last season, acknowledging the need to manage young players who may quickly feel that ‘I’m already here’.

Benjamin Sesko is set to miss several weeks after the £73.7million striker suffered a knee injury against Tottenham before the international break, while Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo are also due to depart for the Africa Cup of Nations next month. 

Their absences leave a significant gap in United’s attacking options, and raise questions over the choice to send Rasmus Hojlund away on loan to Napoli.

The most obvious replacements are Joshua Zirkzee, frustrated by limited minutes this season, or highly rated 17-year-old Obi. 

However, Amorim has dismissed the idea that he will automatically turn to the latter, who made eight senior appearances last term amid an injury crisis to the first-team squad.

‘He (Obi) played last year, but I think it was too soon,’ the United boss said.

‘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.’

Obi joined United’s academy after a high-profile exit from Arsenal last year and became the club’s youngest Premier League starter when he lined up against Brentford in May.

He had already made brief appearances against Everton, Leicester, Wolves and Bournemouth in the league, and featured for 52 minutes against Fulham in the FA Cup after debuting in stoppage time against Tottenham in February.

But the young Dane is yet to get any minutes under Amorim this term and has trained predominantly with the academy.

Another young talent drawing attention is 18-year-old forward Shea Lacey. Lacey opened his account for England U20s earlier this month and has trained with England U21s and Thomas Tuchel’s first team since the start of the season.

Lacey has yet to make his senior debut for United though, with the Portuguese manager clearly determined not to rush his prospects. Even so, reports suggest Lacey has been included in the squad for Monday’s match against Everton at Old Trafford. 

‘I’m really happy with him (Lacey),' Amorim said. '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. In Premier League games the pressure is harder, so they need to be ready.

‘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.’