MANCHESTER UNITED youngster Chido Obi suffered a nasty injury scare in front of head coach Michael Carrick.
Obi, 18, was substituted in the sixth minute after being struck in the head by a clearance from Chelsea Under-21 goalkeeper Max Merrick.
Pressing high immediately from the first whistle, the 18-year-old caught an absolute rocket of a clearance from the Blues stopper square on the dome just ten seconds into the game.
Obi was worryingly laid out on the turf for more than five minutes as medics worked on him.
Merrick himself was down receiving treatment just five minutes later after a coming together inside the box with Obi’s replacement Victor Musa.
Obi has been in his best form of the season, having scored all four in Adam Lawrence side’s 4-1 win at Leicester City last Monday night.
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The Denmark youth international was brought into Carrick’s first-team training last week and was hoping to impress the United manager on Monday night in Leigh.
United dropped to second in the Premier League 2 after Ipswich Town’s recent win and Chelsea were down in fifth before kick-off.
Carrick arrived at Leigh Sports Village with his son Jacey, who played for United’s U16 side, and was later joined by assistant coach Steve Holland and U18 manager Darren Fletcher.
Fletcher was in attendance for a mix of work and personal reasons.
One of his twins, Tyler, earned a starting spot in midfield against Chelsea after going unused on the bench during Sunday’s Premier League victory against Crystal Palace at Old Trafford.
Obi is going to be a key figure as United chase silverware on multiple fronts at youth level this season.
As well as the league, the U21s face Real Madrid in the Premier League International Cup quarter-finals and Obi has also helped the U18s reach the last eight of the FA Youth Cup.