Mipo Odubeko F Shelbourne b.2002

[Olé Olé]

Some "positive" news? I'd say some "actual" news about his involvement. Before this, all we have had is idle speculation informing baseless conclusions.

He may not play for us but he deserves the benefit of the doubt- not the other way around.

[Diggs246]

yep that all sounds great. I wouldn't hesitate to bring him on for the Qatar or Luxemburg game

[ColourfulPeanut]

I wouldn't say that's positive news really but yeah I think there's no point discussing it at all before March. If he's not included in the 21s or even senior squad then forget about him.

The FAI are in contact with him, everything else is speculation until the squads are announced.

[Eirambler]

He's rattling in the goals tonight for West Ham Under 23s anyway.

[nigel-harps1954]

Just further to the England/Ireland flag on Sky Sports..

https://www.whufc.com/teams/academy/squad/ademipo-odubeko

West Ham website lists him as Irish. So..Sky Sports are clearly wrong.

[CraftyToePoke]

FWIW the Flashscore app had an English flag next to him when he surfaced about a month ago, which has since become an Irish one.

[tetsujin1979]

two goals and an assist in the PL2 on Friday night for Odubeko, and surprisingly named on the bench against Liverpool today. Could make an appearance against Villa on Wednesday night.

[tetsujin1979]

Interviewed on West Ham's website, should play against Brighton's U23 side tonight: https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2021/february/05-february/mipo-odubeko-its-such-great-feeling-be-back-out-there

[ColourfulPeanut]

Scored again for the U23s tonight who are getting spanked 5-1 by Brighton U23s.

More importantly though, Evan Ferguson started and has scored for Brighton at 16!

[Eirambler]

On after 55 minutes against Man United in the cup. Great opportunity for him.

[osarusan]

And subbed off with 8 mins to go in extra time. He barely touched the ball all the time he was on the pitch, and looked fairly lazy tbh. You'd expect him to be chasing everything down and busting a gut but he was just jogging round.

[Olé Olé]

Subbed off again in the second half of extra time. He didn't play well. He didn't get involved and his runs were pedestrian. Hopefully doesn't impact too much and he gets another run before the end of the season. It was a thankless task and Lindelof and Maguire were quite comfortable dealing with West Ham.

[Olé Olé]

And subbed off with 8 mins to go in extra time. He barely touched the ball all the time he was on the pitch, and looked fairly lazy tbh. You'd expect him to be chasing everything down and busting a gut but he was just jogging round.
Yeah, I know what you mean. He struck me as nervous as he was lazy. It looked as if he was chasing things down half-heartedly in the hope he wouldn't strip possession or make the pass. Similarly, his run were into United traffic and never at a place where his teammates were likely to put the ball.

[Eirambler]

On after 55 minutes against Man United in the cup. Great opportunity for him.

Which he did not take. You know it's bad when a substitute gets substituted.

Probably just too much too soon for him. He'll head back to the under 23s and hopefully join up with our under 21s in March if they have a friendly game organised.

[Exgrad]

A player straight out of 23s football, not prepared whatsoever to play at that level. Hid throughout, kindest thing to say is that nerves got to him.

[Diggs246]

I didn't see the game, but am I right in saying this is a case that the lad just bottled it?

[tetsujin1979]

That would be extremely harsh. West Ham were poor overall, blaming the 18 year old making his second appearance in senior football away from home is not on.

[Eirambler]

I don't think he bottled it, the opportunity probably just came around far too early in his development and he wasn't up to it yet. Which, given his age, isn't a disaster. Will probably go back to the Under 23s to continue his development and who knows, he might get another opportunity with the first team before the end of the season.

[Exgrad]

I think it was nerves, there was moment shortly after he came on when Lindelof gave the ball away resulting in a 3 v 2 for west ham. Odubeko jogged alongside the guy with the ball without making a run of any sort, even though he was the extra player. A rabbit trapped in the headlights unfortunately and has been pushed too quickly. No one i can see blaming him for west hams defeat, but he has to do better than he did. the other 18/19 year old who came on, Johnson i think, made an impact and a contrast.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Watched the game from the second half onward, and he was fairly anonymous for his time on the field. Saw at least one incident of another player shouting at him. The incident mentioned in the post above was probably West Ham's best chance to score and was badly wasted. But West Ham generally weren't great, really struggled to break United down even when they had much more of the ball in the second half.

[Razors left peg]

Good test of character for him now. Does he take the professional way and work harder now that hes got a taste of what it takes to play at the top?

[Trequartista20]

So many of our players have come good later in their careers: Stevens, Walters, McGoldrick, inter alia. It seems strange, then, to write off a teenager on the basis of one appearance, yet that is what we're seeing. Similar with Parrott.

I'm seeing virtual hysteria on another rival site. Really odd.

[Razors left peg]

So many of our players have come good later in their careers: Stevens, Walters, McGoldrick, inter alia. It seems strange, then, to write off a teenager on the basis of one appearance, yet that is what we're seeing. Similar with Parrott.

I'm seeing virtual hysteria on another rival site. Really odd.

I think the difference is that we thought we had a "Golden Generation" coming through because of their relative success at underage level so it is disappointing when they dont instantly do amazing.

You are 100% right though, at 18 or 19 there is very few players who are Premiership ready and there is a massive step up from underage football to Mens football. I still think Parrott will be excellent and will learn a lot from this season. If he gets 1 goal he could go on a run. Odubeko come on at Old Trafford at 18 is a fantastic achievement but as I said hopefully it will give him the drive to do better and he will work his ar$e off. I do think taking him back off is bad man management of a kid but as long as he is coached properly in the next few days it could turn into a positive thing of giving him a bit of a kick to push forward.

[Razors left peg]

Just to add to that, Phil Foden is a good parallel to talk about for a hyped up 17/ 18 year old.

He was brilliant in underage football, so many calls to get him into Citys team when he was very young. He got a couple games here and here but was handled very well by Guardiola. Its only really now at the age of 20 that hes starting to establish himself and he looks a phenomenal player.

[Olé Olé]

I was checking the other day how many goals Dominic Calvert-Lewin had this season compared to last season. And then I noted the season before and before. His form when he was 21 and 22 was not far removed from that of Aaron Connolly. I think Connolly has so much time. Adam Idah is in behind Teemu Pukki who had a mare at Celtic and bad stints at Sevilla and Schalke in his early twenties. Obafami is another.

Now Mipo is proving why teenage strikers are so rare. Plenty time there.

Hopefully we are not too long more waiting to have consistent, top level goalscorers in the squad again.

[CraftyToePoke]

Couple of articles on this lad today but the Indo one is paywalled where I think its mentioned about playing for us but something went on underage.

https://m.independent.ie/sport/soccer/premier-league/irish-teen-odubeko-can-have-a-bright-future-despite-hammer-blow-at-old-trafford-40078324.html

The42 - https://www.the42.ie/odubeko-reaction-manchester-united-5351166-Feb2021/

" “It’s an honour to get minutes for this club but unfortunately the result didn’t go our way,” he wrote. “Yesterday’s game has taught me a lot about myself and the levels I need to produce to obtain my dreams and help the team in the future.

“A lesson learnt and experience gained that I can only thank the manager for. Thanks to all the fans for the supportive messages. Time to step it up!”

[Diggs246]

Good test of character for him now. Does he take the professional way and work harder now that hes got a taste of what it takes to play at the top?

The key for any young player is not to be afraid to make a mistake, basically go for it. If you are going to have a bad game have a nightmare don't shy out of the occasion

[irishfan86]

Can anyone share the relevant part of the Indo piece where he references what happened playing under age?

[CraftyToePoke]

Can anyone share the relevant part of the Indo piece where he references what happened playing under age?

Being discussed on his thread on YBIG if you can hold your nose long enough to stay on there to read it.

[Charlie Darwin]

Being discussed on his thread on YBIG if you can hold your nose long enough to stay on there to read it.
But they actually go to away games!

[irishfan86]

Well seems like a lot of BS and unclear what it all means. I do get sense he genuinely would like to be involved. Hopefully next step is involvement in U21 squad and we can take it from there.

[tetsujin1979]

Won the April Premier League 2 Player of the Month award
1394246583634604032

[Trequartista20]

West Ham’s Ademipo Odubeko ‘will play for Ireland again’ insists agent amid Nigeria speculation:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/west-hams-ademipo-odubeko-will-play-for-ireland-again-insists-agent-amid-nigeria-speculation-tjzd9bdq9?t=iehttps://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/west-hams-ademipo-odubeko-will-play-for-ireland-again-insists-agent-amid-nigeria-speculation-tjzd9bdq9?t=ie

Odubeko's agent:

“It’s just a case of timing and Mipo getting his feet under the table at West Ham,” Adarabioyo told The Sunday Times on Friday. “That was a very big ask while the season was going on and it was a very high pressure situation for him. He’s young and he is starting his career and that’s the main focus. He is coming into the last year of his contract at West Ham.

“That message was relayed to the [Ireland] coaches and it was like ‘OK, we will speak about it more at a later date’. That conversation hasn’t happened. The reason why he is not playing any international football is because of a lack of communication. Other than that, he has played for Ireland before and he will play for Ireland again.”

“There have not been any talks with Nigeria,” Adarabioyo said. “I am sure you are going to see him in the green of Ireland sooner than the green of Nigeria, but let’s see. There are major tournaments coming up in the next few years. I think it’s going to be a couple of years before any real solid international decisions are made.”

[Olé Olé]

I was reading that and happy with it until I got to "but let's see..". It all went down hill from there for me.

However, he's an Irish lad and if we can bring through some of the quality we have coming through and gradually improve then there would be no reason for the "real solid international decisions" to go against us.

Listening to some of the muck that Agent Rice has been speaking this week did remind me that the Irish squad, from an outside perspective, looked a slightly grim place to be. There was a good buzz about the squad last week- between taking the knee, Ogbene's debut, Duffy's respite, Parrott's glimpses, goalkeeping potential. Hopefully 21/22 is better at club and country for a lot of lads than 20/21.

[samhaydenjr]

West Ham’s Ademipo Odubeko ‘will play for Ireland again’ insists agent amid Nigeria speculation:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/west-hams-ademipo-odubeko-will-play-for-ireland-again-insists-agent-amid-nigeria-speculation-tjzd9bdq9?t=iehttps://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/west-hams-ademipo-odubeko-will-play-for-ireland-again-insists-agent-amid-nigeria-speculation-tjzd9bdq9?t=ie

Odubeko's agent:

“It’s just a case of timing and Mipo getting his feet under the table at West Ham,” Adarabioyo told The Sunday Times on Friday. “That was a very big ask while the season was going on and it was a very high pressure situation for him. He’s young and he is starting his career and that’s the main focus. He is coming into the last year of his contract at West Ham.

“That message was relayed to the [Ireland] coaches and it was like ‘OK, we will speak about it more at a later date’. That conversation hasn’t happened. The reason why he is not playing any international football is because of a lack of communication. Other than that, he has played for Ireland before and he will play for Ireland again.”

“There have not been any talks with Nigeria,” Adarabioyo said. “I am sure you are going to see him in the green of Ireland sooner than the green of Nigeria, but let’s see. There are major tournaments coming up in the next few years. I think it’s going to be a couple of years before any real solid international decisions are made.”

If that's an accurate description of events, then that's a very worrying response by the Irish management to a player who is potentially our best striker in a generation reaching out and saying he's ready to commit. The correct response should be "sounds good, we can bring Mipo into the U21 scene for the Autumn qualifiers, with a view to moving him up to Senior level next year, if his career continues to progress. And if he makes a breakthrough early next season, we could look at fast-tracking him to the squad for the later qualifiers", not "ehh... we'll see what happens..."

[Olé Olé]

I'm sure there are two sides to that one and the truth surely lies in the middle.

[Eirambler]

I'd be taking anything that comes from Mipo Odubeko or his agent with a massive pinch of salt at this stage.

[CSAD]

I’d simply give him an invitation to the u21s (possibly seniors if he breaks into the WH team) and if he declines then simply never contact him again and leave him come to us if he’s interested. Continuing the chase players just further devalues the proposition of playing for Ireland and will likely do more harm than good. I’m more forgiving at the minute because in the grand scheme of things the matches played aren’t important but come the U21 match v Bosnia & Luxembourg and the WCQ’s if he is rang and refuses then that’s that it’s all on him then.

[SkStu]

So much contradictory sh!te being spouted by that agent. No contact is the reason he’s not playing but he won’t be playing for a couple years anyway? Go way to fck.

This fella seems like a complete headwrecker.

[ColourfulPeanut]

That agent is a clown and anything he says shouldn't be taken at face value.

We've been played by players before and shouldn't even be entertaining this nonsense. How much communication does he want? The lad is Irish, born and raised here. He got called up for the 21s and didn't want to come. Let the agent fill his head with hot air and bat his eyelashes at Nigeria.

Next round of fixtures, give him a call for the 19s, 21s or seniors if merited and if he refuses, don't call him again. It's pretty simple.

[Diggs246]

If the player is a bell now, while he is a nobody. Then what will be be like if he breaks into the WH team and starts scoring regularly? Seriously will he try declare for England, france, Brazil or whatever. The warning is in already guys we Ignored the warnings before and we got burnt.

[tetsujin1979]

West Ham’s Ademipo Odubeko ‘will play for Ireland again’ insists agent amid Nigeria speculation:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/west-hams-ademipo-odubeko-will-play-for-ireland-again-insists-agent-amid-nigeria-speculation-tjzd9bdq9?t=iehttps://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/west-hams-ademipo-odubeko-will-play-for-ireland-again-insists-agent-amid-nigeria-speculation-tjzd9bdq9?t=ie

Odubeko's agent:

“It’s just a case of timing and Mipo getting his feet under the table at West Ham,” Adarabioyo told The Sunday Times on Friday. “That was a very big ask while the season was going on and it was a very high pressure situation for him. He’s young and he is starting his career and that’s the main focus. He is coming into the last year of his contract at West Ham.

“That message was relayed to the [Ireland] coaches and it was like ‘OK, we will speak about it more at a later date’. That conversation hasn’t happened. The reason why he is not playing any international football is because of a lack of communication. Other than that, he has played for Ireland before and he will play for Ireland again.”

“There have not been any talks with Nigeria,” Adarabioyo said. “I am sure you are going to see him in the green of Ireland sooner than the green of Nigeria, but let’s see. There are major tournaments coming up in the next few years. I think it’s going to be a couple of years before any real solid international decisions are made.”
I was wondering where I'd heard the agent's name before*. He's Fulham, and England, defender Tosin Adarabioyo 's older brother - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tosin_Adarabioyo

. His oldest brother, Gbolahan, serves as his representative
Incidentally, after playing for England at under 16, under 17, under 18, and under 19 level, Tosin has spoken about declaring for Nigeria

* Posted this before I read the rest of the article, it's mentioned at the end that he is Tosin's representative

[irishfan86]

It might be a way of the agent trying to accelerate a senior Irish call up by planting the seed of doubt. A senior Irish call up will boost his player’s value. I believe Odubeko will play for us.

[samhaydenjr]

I'd be taking anything that comes from Mipo Odubeko or his agent with a massive pinch of salt at this stage.

Perhaps... but we're talking about the FAI here... so it's at least plausible

[Olé Olé]

I was wondering where I'd heard the agent's name before*. He's Fulham, and England, defender Tosin Adarabioyo 's older brother - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tosin_Adarabioyo

Incidentally, after playing for England at under 16, under 17, under 18, and under 19 level, Tosin has spoken about declaring for Nigeria

* Posted this before I read the rest of the article, it's mentioned at the end that he is Tosin's representative

That's very interesting and I see that all Adarabaiyo brothers have history with Man City- like Odubeko himself.

[seanfhear]

I'd be taking anything that comes from Mipo Odubeko or his agent with a massive pinch of salt at this stage.
The idea that the FAI are not doing all they can to keep these young fellas on board is a joke. This is just an agent playing the usual games ~ Maybe even trying to get England after their player ~ We have been down this road before.

[Olé Olé]

The idea that the FAI are not doing all they can to keep these young fellas on board is a joke. This is just an agent playing the usual games ~ Maybe even trying to get England after their player ~ We have been down this road before.

I would add that we have had good results recently with Finn and Johansson and Crawford and Kenny have come out of both situations looking like they have done a good job.

[Razors left peg]

Even if he does play for us this guy has got Stephen Ireland written all over him. Idah and Connolly were also prolific at Prem 2 level so theres no guarantee hes any better than them. If he wants to play for us then great, but we've tried with him now and hes refused call ups so ball is his court.

[Fixer82]

If he’s onboard then great.
If he wants play for Nigeria then fine.
But if he declares for England then he can ask my bo11ix!

[Charlie Darwin]

I’d simply give him an invitation to the u21s (possibly seniors if he breaks into the WH team) and if he declines then simply never contact him again and leave him come to us if he’s interested. Continuing the chase players just further devalues the proposition of playing for Ireland and will likely do more harm than good. I’m more forgiving at the minute because in the grand scheme of things the matches played aren’t important but come the U21 match v Bosnia & Luxembourg and the WCQ’s if he is rang and refuses then that’s that it’s all on him then.
Why would you box yourself into a corner for no reason?

Agents are full of ****, always. Mipo has played for Ireland before and it seems obvious he was upset at not being picked for his country. Give him a bit of space, let Stephen contact him after a while and show him a bit of love, and things will be fine.