Chido Obi was shown around Carrington last summer and liked what he saw and heard. Manchester United reached an agreement to sign Obi from Arsenal at the end of July and a source described the transfer as a "significant coup", which has already proven to be true. Obi scored a hat-trick within 15 minutes of his first start for the academy and hasn't looked back. He is the most exciting attacking prospect from United's youth system since Mason Greenwood and was handed his first-team debut by Ruben Amorim against Tottenham Hotspur last month. The 17-year-old became impossible to ignore after scoring 12 goals in 12 appearances for the academy. Obi is far from the finished article and is a raw talent that needs to be refined, but there is a quiet confidence building within the club that he could become a future star at Old Trafford . "Occasionally you get moments like this," said Nick Cox about the transfer. "Arsenal are a wonderful club. They deliver a great program and develop great players. For one reason or another, and it's for Chido and his family to know why, they felt the best opportunities for him may rest away from Arsenal. "Because he holds a Danish passport, the whole of Europe was open to Chido. We quite simply became aware of the fact that Chido was about to make a move to Europe. He’d been to visit a club and identified the club where he was going to potentially end up. We thought if this player is available and is looking to leave, then we should make every effort we possibly can to sign him." Cox famously tells a story about how his bickering sons in the background of a Zoom call nearly scuppered the deal to sign Alejandro Garnacho in 2020. Brexit rules mean academy recruitment is now limited to the United Kingdom and talented teenagers from Europe can no longer be signed. "In effect, it's a UK-based recruitment search," said Cox, and the unexpected opportunity to sign one of the most prolific youth strikers in the country couldn't be passed up by United. Cox spoke to the Manchester Evening News and two other outlets in the Jimmy Murphy Building at a sun-kissed Carrington on Wednesday afternoon. The head of United's academy was generous with his time and provided insight into the signing of Obi before answering other questions. The self-deprecating Cox has played a crucial role in the renaissance of United's academy and adding players to already talented academy teams has been important in the last few years. "The pretty familiar formula for Manchester United's senior and youth teams has always been having the best local players and adding some of the best talent from further afield," he explained. "If you look back, it's George Best, it's Bobby Charlton, or it's Duncan Edwards from further afield, added to a group of local lads. Then fast forward and it's someone like Paul Pogba. We have an extensive group of talented scouts who are exceptional at looking at potential in players. We're trying to make sure there's a healthy pool of high-potential talent sitting beneath the first team. "It was a real concerted effort to sign Chido, so there'd been a lot of work done by our recruitment team led by Luke Fedderenko, and Stephen Ajewole would have played a key role in that as well. Sam Williams too. "The coaching staff would have played a key role as well because we're trying to present an opportunity. This is our staff, this is our history and track record of developing players. This is what the program looks like, this is the resource that would be available to you. This is how we see the club in the future. "We had an opportunity to meet with Chido's family and the important people to him. We had a number of conversations that allowed us the opportunity to be the club that he chose to join." Obi almost scored when he came off the bench against Fulham in the FA Cup fifth round, and Amorim admitted it was a "good night" for the youngster, despite United losing the game. Amorim has promoted Obi to the first-team squad and supporters have wondered whether that means he won't play a part in the remainder of the Under-18s' campaign in the FA Youth Cup, with United in the semi-finals against Aston Villa on Monday night and facing the possibility of a derby final against Manchester City . Obi has scored seven goals in the competition, the same number as Garnaho scored when United last lifted the trophy in 2022, and Cox said: "He's in a good place at the moment. There have been opportunities to train with the first team and a few opportunities from off the bench. "But let's be honest, there's been some injuries and some disruption to the squad. The art is to just keep regularly reviewing where a player is at. You saw Kobbie [Mainoo] bounce between teams before he finally got in and Alejandro was a little bit the same, so there's always twists and turns." When asked whether Obi could feature in a potential Youth Cup final, Cox added: "He's an eligible player for the youth team. I don't really know if we're going to get to a final. "We've got a game to get through on Monday first, but let's be honest, we've got lots of good players. If we got to the final, that would be over a month away. I don't know what the next month might bring." A decision will also be made on Harry Amass's availability for the Youth Cup after the defender finally made his senior debut against Leicester City before the international break. "I'm delighted for Harry, his family and everyone that's worked with him, including the guys at Watford that worked with him before he came to us," said Cox. "We've talked about what an amazing landmark it is, but there's still a long way to go. "He's been in and around the first-team squad for maybe about a year, hasn't he? I don't pick the team, so the reasons why he wasn't selected [before Leicester] will be valid, but that's for the coaching staff and Harry to know the reasons, but he's had to be patient. "It wasn't as if he wasn't disappointed. Of course you're desperate, you want to play and get on the pitch, but I've been really impressed with the determination, the resilience and the persistence to keep learning. He's spent time with the first-team and then back with the youth team. "He's kept working, kept improving and been ready for when the moment comes. As a young player, you don't know when it's going to come and you've got to be ready, which isn't easy." Once it became clear that Amass wasn't in Erik ten Hag's plans, United placed him on a conditioning programme to gain muscle and he was prepared to leave on loan in the winter window. However, a suitable offer for the 17-year-old didn't arrive. "We put a lot of boys out on loan in January because we thought it was the right thing for their development, and I guess we assessed all of the players to work out which ones we thought might need a loan," said Cox. "It's not for all of the players. We certainly considered loan opportunities for Harry, but it's one thing to consider a loan and to find the right match. If you're going to put a player on loan, you've got to try and line up the place where they're going to get the development they need. "We decided the right match wasn't there and there was a feeling there was still some work to be done here and that he was close, so it was probably best that he stay in the building." Amorim recently declined to fill the bench for a handful of games, which meant academy prospects were denied the experience of being around senior players and seeing how they prepare. The 40-year-old has still provided opportunities to a few young players, though. "You've heard him talk about it," said Cox about Amorim's commitment to the club's youngsters. "He takes great pride in the work he's done away from here in terms of debuting young players and you can only measure a man by his actions. There are players in the team, in the first-team squads and there have been debuts given. You’re starting to see him put real faith in Toby Collyer. "He obviously has a real excitement about young players and helping them, but listen, they have to be good enough, there’s no favours or charity given. It's exciting times for the young players." Of working with Amorim, Cox said: "It's early days, isn't it? Whenever you put new groups of people together, you've got to find your best ways of working, and let's not lose sight of the fact that the number one priority is preparing players to go and perform to the best of their ability at the weekends. "He's an approachable and charming guy, as you'll know. He's a supportive character around the training ground. The lines of communication are broad. It's not just manager to coach. "It’s through Jason Wilcox, Darren Fletcher, other members of the senior leadership team and Ruben's staff, so it's organic working. There's got to be a healthy collaboration of debate. "When it comes to sending a player across, there’s a back-and-forth between Ruben and his staff, and Darren Fletcher is a leading voice. Then you’ve got the senior academy coaches." Amorim immediately implemented a different formation and style after his appointment in November, but the shape used in academy matches has remained unchanged. Although some have argued that it would be logical for academy teams to mirror the first-team formation, Cox explained it's important to give youngsters a "well-rounded education." "It's a collective approach to decide how the academy team is going to play, so it's not my choice," he said. "There's conversations between myself, Jason Wilcox, the senior coaches within the academy in terms of Trav Binnion, Dave Hughes, Adam Lawrence and Colin Little. "We talk about the type of football that our boys will need to experience to give them a well-rounded education, which is going to equip them for the game, not just to get them to the start line and for them to make a debut, but these boys will still be playing around 2045 and 2050. "I don't know what the game is going look like in 2050, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be quicker, more flexible, more dynamic, it's going to require adaptable players, flexible players, players who have a game sense." Cox continued: "Our approach has to be about equipping the individuals because I'm trying to equip those individuals to be able to win a game in the future, not trying to win us a game right now. "I don't want to get too detailed, but the formation is a small sliver of the consideration. It's more about the principles, so if you look at the teams, the principles are the same. "We're trying to play a modern version of the game, which is to dominate the ball, control the game, try and play in the opposition half, and if you lose the ball, then try to win it back quickly. "The formation is different, but we think that the formation pretty much translates to being dropped in at first-team level. You’ll also see boys who are slowly integrated into Ruben’s training sessions. They’ll start with recovery sessions as a small group and then maybe as individuals in a main session. "Ruben's approach is to work really hard on how his team is going to play, so it’s weeks and weeks of that education before you potentially get to come on as a substitute for a debut."