Manchester United’s director of Academy, Nick Cox, has lauded Chido Obi and Harry Amass for managing to make their senior debuts for the club.
Obi joined United from Arsenal in the summer and made his debut for the Red Devils in February, coming on from the bench in the late stages of a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.
One month later, Amass achieved the same feat away at Leicester City. Both players have gone on to rack up a few more first-team appearances. Amass made his first start for United two weeks ago, in the loss against Newcastle at St James’ Park.
He started again on Sunday as his side were narrowly beaten again by Wolverhampton Wanderers. Despite being on the losing side, Amass was brilliant and earned praise from Ruben Amorim for his contributions in the game.
Obi made a lively impression after coming off the bench against Wolves, further intensifying calls from fans for him to be handed his first start.
Earlier today, Obi and Amass were honoured with debut frames in Carrington’s Graduate Lounge, commemorating their status as the club’s 252nd and 253rd academy graduates respectively.
Proud moments for Harry and Chido, who recently received special framed images for making their United debuts 👏#MUFC || #MUAcademy pic.twitter.com/JIlmiciY1d
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) April 21, 2025
Cox said, “Football is forward-thinking, fast-moving and everyone’s thinking about next week, next game, next contract, where we might get to in the league etc. The staff will be the same, and the players will be the same. We’re always looking for what’s next, so how do we help 254 make that debut?”
“But it’s important that we take some time to live in the present moment to celebrate what I think is magical. I said to the boys: they’ve joined an exclusive club of players who’ve graduated from the youth team into the first team. And you can only get into that club through talent, hard work, determination, and persistence.”
“Money can’t buy your way into that club, you can only get there by having something special and having a special character as well.”
Cox continued, “What I think’s incredibly powerful is the boys can look at the names on that wall and they can pull out some legends, but if you go to the bottom of that wall, they’re actually looking at their mates. They’re looking at players they’ve played in the same team as.”
“So it takes this really difficult challenge, really magical thing that not many people get to do, and it normalises it and it makes it real, and it’s a real sense of motivation to think: ‘my friends can do it, I can do it, too’. That’s the beauty of this club.”
“There was a month between these debuts, right? So it’s competitive. That’s the environment we have here. The fact the boys can compete with each other is a really powerful part of what happens here, and that’s not the case at many football clubs.”
Just as United were celebrating Obi and Amass, another youngster made his first-team debut on Sunday, becoming the 254th academy graduate – Tyler Fredricson.
Fredricson played all 90 minutes of the meeting with Wolves and was exceptional on the left side of the three-man defence.
Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images
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Derick Kinoti Derick Kinoti is a football writer at The Peoples Person who has covered Manchester United and the game extensively for many years. He is a keen analyst with expertise in SEO and journalism standards. Derick is convinced Wayne Rooney is the true GOAT and won’t hear otherwise!
