Manchester United are set to sign teenage striker Chido Obi-Martin.

The 16-year-old turned down the chance to stay at Arsenal and United have swooped in to snap up the youngster amid wider interest in the player.

Obi-Martin visited United’s Carrington training base last week and the Manchester club are now confident of completing a deal, although it has yet to be finalised.

Arsenal had made what they felt was a good offer for Obi-Martin to stay.

A junior international for England and Denmark, he joined Arsenal from Danish side KB in 2022.

Obi-Martin scored 10 goals in a 14-3 win for Arsenal’s Under-16 team against Liverpool last November.

He scored 29 goals in 17 league games for Arsenal’s Under-18s last season and played in Denmark’s 2024 European Under-17 Championship qualification campaign.

Diallo’s Toure pep talk

Amad Diallo, who has expressed a desire to spend the rest of his career at Old Trafford, spent some time talking to fellow Ivorian Yaya Toure, the legendary former Manchester City and Barcelona midfielder, on holiday in the Maldives before joining the club’s tour this summer.

“This summer I met Yaya on holiday. He gave me some advice - and some secrets,” said Diallo, who underlined his promise with the winning goal in United’s epic FA Cup quarter-final victory over Liverpool last season.

“We didn’t speak about the Liverpool game. He gave me some advice for the future.

“Meeting him on holiday and talking with him was very important for me. He is a big legend in my country. He gave me some advice for the season. Let’s see what happens at the end of the season.”

Diallo is hoping to see off the likes of Antony and Jadon Sancho and make the right-wing berth his own this season. The 22-year-old is particularly close with fellow youngsters Kobbie Mainoo, Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund and hopes the quartet will become a key part of a successful United team going forward.

“I have a good relationship with all the players, but with those guys maybe because we are young I have more with them. Rasmus is a good guy, he [was signed] from Atalanta, like me, so we have a good relationship; Garna, we have the same agent now; Kobbie is a beautiful guy, nice guy, every time smiling, I am happy to be friends with them.”

New set-piece coach flies in

United’s new set-piece coach Andreas Georgson has arrived in the US and was involved in his first training session with the squad on Tuesday. As well as set-plays, the 42-year Swede, who left Lillestrom where he was head coach to move to Old Trafford, will take the lead on individual development.

International stars stay home

It has not been uncommon for those United players who have taken part in the latter stages of international summer tournaments to join up with the squad in these pre-season tours. But that will not happen this summer, with the likes of Lisandro Martinez, Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes instead due to report back to Carrington. New signing Joshua Zirkzee reported for his first day on Tuesday and other players are set to return later this week and into next week.

Rashford’s jigsaw passion

Marcus Rashford’s off-field behaviour may have seen him fall foul of United manager Erik ten Hag on more than one occasion last season. But the England striker has some pastimes away from football that Ten Hag will be happy to encourage – namely jigsaw puzzles.

“I think more so when I’m in season, doing puzzles and just little games to keep myself activated,” he said. “I’ve got a couple at home that are waiting for me, so I will get started on them when I get back. I’ve tried a 3D one. It’s hard though. It’s tough. It takes longer.

“And plus, if my dog interrupts and starts eating pieces, I’m going to get more frustrated! I’ve only ever done one 3D one though. Most of them were just a thousand pieces. I think it was a car. Like I said, it was hard. I almost gave up. But it was my mum, actually … she said if I don’t finish it, then I’ve been beaten, so I had to finish it… after about three weeks!”

Robbie Williams swings by

United’s players have been enjoying greater freedom in the US this summer compared to last year and Harry Maguire, Jonny Evans, Scott McTominay and Tom Heaton enjoyed spending some time with singer Robbie Williams this week. Maguire posted a picture of them all together on his Instagram.

Player sweat patches

United’s physical-performance team have been measuring the players’ fluid loss during training at UCLA this week using sweat patches as part of their analysis of fuelling and hydration to better tailor individual strategies to support each player in their preparations for games this season. The results help the team to identify the best match-day hydration strategy for each individual player.

Green initiative

As part of “the greenest game” initiative, a sustainability programme United and Real Betis are promoting ahead of their game at San Diego’s Snapdragon stadium in the early hours (UK time) on Thursday, former United striker Andrew Cole joined 65 volunteers on Tuesday working in the San Diego river bed. Collectively, they removed just over 500 pounds of rubbish from Mission Valley Preserve.