View Full Version : James Abankwah D Watford (loan from Udinese) b.2004
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Only turned 18 last week and highly rated. Has played RB and CB this season for Pats.
tommy_c12000
25/01/2022, 10:17 PM
Love this move if it’s confirmed. Good transfer fee up front for St Pats, and James gets a solid season of senior football before moving properly to Italy after the summer. At Pats also get a season of his talent too. Hopefully more youngsters will continue to think broadly about prospects outside of England
paul_oshea
26/01/2022, 10:07 AM
I wonder if this is an easier option for those with foreign born parents, certainly id imagine it is for those who weren't born here but moved as children. Perhaps if more immigrant sons move it will entice the "natives" too.
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Officially confirmed.
Fixer82
26/01/2022, 10:19 PM
Great for Pat's
It’s a great move and it’s great to see our young talent moving to other strong footballing cultures and leagues. Hopefully more to come.
The cynic in me wonders whether Udinese see him as a legitimate talent who will add value to their first team soon or whether they are speculating on an asset that has future resale value irrespective of playing time. That’s been a bit of their model recently so remains to be seen I suppose.
I’ve seen a lot of sources mention him being Ghanaian born but he’s been with us right through the underage ranks, has played/won the Blue Riband and domestic leagues so you’d have to think he’ll stay with us.
Either way, all the above being said, it’s brilliant news all round, great for the league and can’t help but put a pep in the step.
jbyrne
27/01/2022, 6:27 AM
Either way, all the above being said, it’s brilliant news all round, great for the league and can’t help but put a pep in the step.
i kinda get what you say here.... but not sure too many other leagues would consider one of its brighter talents moving on as being great for their league.
Stuttgart88
27/01/2022, 7:44 AM
ah that's the reality though. Most of Europe's leagues are stepping stone leagues. We've barely even been seen as that. More of these transfer fees now should help us retain talent down the line. And Udinese is far better than Mansfield and the likes. If he and others are successful it'll hopefully drive transfer fees up. The LOI has had the pi$$ taken out of it for two long really given what clubs spend on decent players these days.
sbgawa
27/01/2022, 7:55 AM
It’s a great move and it’s great to see our young talent moving to other strong footballing cultures and leagues. Hopefully more to come.
The cynic in me wonders whether Udinese see him as a legitimate talent who will add value to their first team soon or whether they are speculating on an asset that has future resale value irrespective of playing time. That’s been a bit of their model recently so remains to be seen I suppose.
I’ve seen a lot of sources mention him being Ghanaian born but he’s been with us right through the underage ranks, has played/won the Blue Riband and domestic leagues so you’d have to think he’ll stay with us.
Either way, all the above being said, it’s brilliant news all round, great for the league and can’t help but put a pep in the step.
Id be confident to that he will stay with us but id still be capping him soon enough :)
SkStu
27/01/2022, 12:41 PM
i kinda get what you say here.... but not sure too many other leagues would consider one of its brighter talents moving on as being great for their league.
Yeah, fair point. I think Stutts is right though. We kinda have to accept our lot as a selling (or stepping stone) league and maximize sales revenue. Its good to see Rovers and Pats figure out how to do that in recent years (Bohs too but to a far lesser extent). To see that league players are attracting Italian and German clubs as next steps instead of the Mansfields :) and Greenock Mortons feels good.
Diggs246
27/01/2022, 1:01 PM
Yep. Every single player sold should have a sell on clause. They make more money from that then winning the league
pineapple stu
27/01/2022, 1:17 PM
i kinda get what you say here.... but not sure too many other leagues would consider one of its brighter talents moving on as being great for their league.
If you look at most national squads (well, exclude the big countries like England, France, etc) the most common profile of players is that they start in their domestic league and leave it around 21/22 for a decent fee.
If the LoI can get into the habit of selling players for this sort of fee - and if they justify it of course - then this is a real positive for the LoI.
Imagine 4/5 of these transfers a year - €2m coming into LoI clubs annually? Would make a huge difference.
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Next young lad leaving the league, and possibly abroad could be Cathal Heffernan. Was training with teams in Italy last summer.
Razors left peg
27/01/2022, 6:19 PM
i kinda get what you say here.... but not sure too many other leagues would consider one of its brighter talents moving on as being great for their league.
Its progress from when most of these players would leave long before they ever played in the league
pineapple stu
27/01/2022, 6:22 PM
Son of the former Olympic race walker Rob Heffernan. Random one!
Got a belated medal at the 2012 Olympics when the winner was disqualified four years later.
Would still be better for the LoI I think if players were at least getting a bit of senior football under their belts before making the move - this could be a 500k transfer for Cork in a couple of years for example. But let's see how it goes.
Son of the former Olympic race walker Rob Heffernan. Random one!
Got a belated medal at the 2012 Olympics when the winner was disqualified four years later.
Would still be better for the LoI I think if players were at least getting a bit of senior football under their belts before making the move - this could be a 500k transfer for Cork in a couple of years for example. But let's see how it goes.
Not the only young lad that's been in Germany recently. Stephen Ireland has set up his own agency and had both Mark O'Mahony (Cork) and Luke O'Brien (Pat's) over in Germany this month too.
Son of the former Olympic race walker Rob Heffernan. Random one!
Got a belated medal at the 2012 Olympics when the winner was disqualified four years later.
Would still be better for the LoI I think if players were at least getting a bit of senior football under their belts before making the move - this could be a 500k transfer for Cork in a couple of years for example. But let's see how it goes.
Heffernan is on a professional contract with Cork so they should receive a good fee for him anyway. If they could hang onto him for a season and he can gain some first team experience that could increase his transfer value massively though.
Heffernan is on a professional contract with Cork so they should receive a good fee for him anyway. If they could hang onto him for a season and he can gain some first team experience that could increase his transfer value massively though.
If they get 100k with clauses thrown in they'd be doing well. Probably has a cheap release clause. Good article in the Athletic today about Irish football and they mention bridge transfers. Agents threatening clubs that if they don't make it easy for their players to move on to a bigger club they'll move them somewhere else that will agree to it. Kinda like Aaron Drinan moving from Cork to Waterford and then over to Ipswich a couple of months later. Be surprised if Stephen Ireland is letting lads sign professional contracts at 16 without clauses that allow them move onto bigger clubs cheap enough.
If they get 100k with clauses thrown in they'd be doing well. Probably has a cheap release clause. Good article in the Athletic today about Irish football and they mention bridge transfers. Agents threatening clubs that if they don't make it easy for their players to move on to a bigger club they'll move them somewhere else that will agree to it. Kinda like Aaron Drinan moving from Cork to Waterford and then over to Ipswich a couple of months later. Be surprised if Stephen Ireland is letting lads sign professional contracts at 16 without clauses that allow them move onto bigger clubs cheap enough.
I believe their entitle to compensation on top of the transfer fee so I would be quite confident Cork would get a decent sum for him and I would definitely expect it to exceed 100k, word on Twitter is that despite the rumours there is still strong talk of of Heffernan signing for AC Milan, supposedly they have arrived in Milan today anyway.
I think things are better now with these transfers and also yes I would expect there to be clauses in the contract, it must also be said that Heffernan is a much better prospect than players like Drinan so I would think these clubs would think twice before trying to gamble on a player like Heffernan, if there’s competition especially.
mark12345
28/01/2022, 12:00 PM
I believe their entitle to compensation on top of the transfer fee so I would be quite confident Cork would get a decent sum for him and I would definitely expect it to exceed 100k, word on Twitter is that despite the rumours there is still strong talk of of Heffernan signing for AC Milan, supposedly they have arrived in Milan today anyway.
I think things are better now with these transfers and also yes I would expect there to be clauses in the contract, it must also be said that Heffernan is a much better prospect than players like Drinan so I would think these clubs would think twice before trying to gamble on a player like Heffernan, if there’s competition especially.
Great to see Heff being looked at by Leverkusen and Milan. Has anyone heard of Cork youngster, David Dunne? Much younger but apparently playing at an unbelievable level and said to be nailed on for professional football at the highest level.
elatedscum
28/01/2022, 1:34 PM
Not the only young lad that's been in Germany recently. Stephen Ireland has set up his own agency and had both Mark O'Mahony (Cork) and Luke O'Brien (Pat's) over in Germany this month too.
O’Mahony signed a pro deal a few days ago with Cork. Good player, seems like a decent lad. Natural goal scorer.
Abankwah made his Udinese debut today coming on in the 86th minute in a 3-0 loss to Bologna.
tetsujin1979
02/04/2023, 1:40 PM
Sets a record in the process
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tetsujin1979
02/04/2023, 4:32 PM
Question asked on YBIG have two Irish players ever appeared in the same top flight game before?
The last top flight continental game(ie Spain, Italy, or Germany) with two Irish players I could find was a la liga game between Osasuna and Sporting Gijon in December 1988 that featured Michael Robinson and Kevin Moran
But that's the only site with the lineups I could find, so open to correction on it
https://www.bdfutbol.com/en/p/p.php?id=17156
Kingdom
02/04/2023, 4:38 PM
Did Harte and Finnan timelines cross at Levante & Espanyol?
tetsujin1979
02/04/2023, 4:49 PM
No, Harte returned to England in 2007 to play for Sunderland, Finnan went to Espanyol in 2008
pineapple stu
02/04/2023, 4:58 PM
Moran and Aldridge were in La Liga at the same time; did they meet?
Ditto John Byrne and Mick McCarthy in Ligue 1.
Razors left peg
02/04/2023, 5:02 PM
Did Cascarino cross paths with any Irish men in France?
tetsujin1979
02/04/2023, 5:08 PM
Moran and Aldridge were in La Liga at the same time; did they meet?
Ditto John Byrne and Mick McCarthy in Ligue 1. according to Wikipedia, le Havre were not in ligue 1 in the 1989-90 season when Mick was at Lyon
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989%E2%80%9390_French_Division_1
Aldridge and Moran were in la Liga at the same time for only one season, 1989-90, but only Aldridge played in the two games between Real Sociedad and Sporting Gijon that season
It's the same site with the lineups again, so it's tough to verify
https://www.bdfutbol.com/en/p/p.php?id=17545
https://www.bdfutbol.com/en/p/p.php?id=17735
tetsujin1979
02/04/2023, 5:14 PM
Did Cascarino cross paths with any Irish men in France?
Going by Wikipedia, he was the only Irish player in Ligue 1 at that time
https://tr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligue_1_yabanc%C4%B1_futbolcular%C4%B1_listesi#Irl anda
That page is in Turkish, and is out of date - Messi isn't on it!. Unfortunately, the English language version is completely empty
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_foreign_Ligue_1_players
Trequartista20
04/04/2023, 11:31 AM
Did Alan Mahon and Phil Babb not play any matches together at Sporting?
Trequartista20
04/04/2023, 11:40 AM
Frank Stapleton and John Byrne at Le Havre in the late 80s? Or were they in the second division by that stage?
tetsujin1979
04/04/2023, 11:51 AM
Did Alan Mahon and Phil Babb not play any matches together at Sporting?
They did, but I did specify that this was in the top continental leagues, ie Spanish, German or Italian
Frank Stapleton and John Byrne at Le Havre in the late 80s? Or were they in the second division by that stage?
Stapleton was only there for the 88-89 season, when they were in Ligue 2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988%E2%80%9389_French_Division_2
third policeman
04/04/2023, 2:02 PM
Where Alan Campbell and Liam Buckley at Racing Santander at the same time. Campbell was there between 84 and 86
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Campbell_(Irish_footballer)#:~:text=Alan%20Ca mpbell%20(born%2010%20August,who%20played%20as%20a %20forward.&text=He%20played%20for%20Sh
Whilst Buckley was there between 86 and 87
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liam_Buckley
Not clear whether their spells there crossed over but Santander were in La Liga in 1986
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racing_de_Santander
tetsujin1979
04/04/2023, 2:24 PM
looks like Campbell move to Logrones when Buckley moved to Santander: https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/the-irish-reign-in-spain-how-irelands-exports-coped-in-la-liga-42322612.html
Liam Buckley Racing Santander (1986-1987)
One Dubliner (Buckley) replaced another (Campbell) at Santander for the 1986/87 season and ex-Rovers man Buckley, who moved to Spain after a happy two-year spell with Belgian side Waragem also adapted well to life in Spain, making his debut away to Barcelona, up against Gary Lineker and Mark Hughes who were also debutants. After one year in Spain, Buckley moved on again, to Switzerland but five goals in 35 games that season in Spain was a decent return.
tetsujin1979
04/06/2023, 6:08 PM
Starting tonight for Udinese in their last game of the season
The team announcement is...different
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Trequartista20
04/06/2023, 6:16 PM
Great to see the progression of our young players.
tetsujin1979
05/06/2023, 10:51 AM
Abankwah, Guessand, Cocetta reflect on debut joy
https://www.udinese.it/news/squad/abankwah-guessand-cocetta-reflect-on-debut-joy
Abankwah: “I'm very happy to have made my full Serie A debut. I want to thank the gaffer and all my team-mates. It was a difficult game against a good team. I was very tired and Ielt cramp but I just tried to do my best."
pineapple stu
05/06/2023, 10:54 AM
Has he played any football all season? I think he's been on the bench pretty much every game but not come on. Is there a reserve league or anything that he's been playing?
CraftyToePoke
05/06/2023, 11:26 AM
I was watching this last night, and he was RCB in a five at the back & he did fine up to the injury on the hour, glad he's saying its cramp today as he was injured blocking a shot and he immediately sat down and signalled to the bench, he was holding his quadriceps and it didn't look great at the time. In play he had one nice reading of a deep cross which he came back out to nod away, a player has drifted in late behind the defence but he copped it & most likely stopped a goal there. He was beaten in the box once when he might have been stronger in the challenge but there was cover and it didn't come to anything. He was available for ball but not really demanding it, and he looked to play the safe ball most times, back across the defensive line rather than into midfield. He did fine, looked calm and was getting on with it. The winning goal minutes after he had to come off was a shot from the RCB area FWIW and Juve hadn't had any shots away from there while he was out there.
Has he played any football all season? I think he's been on the bench pretty much every game but not come on. Is there a reserve league or anything that he's been playing?
He's played in 13 of Udineses 34 Primavera 1 games. Next season though not sure what's there to play as Primavera is an U19s league. Similar with Ed McJannet whose only been involved with Lecces U19s this season.
pineapple stu
05/06/2023, 11:52 AM
Even that's not great. Strange setup really.
Where did you see that? Or do you know how John Ryan's doing at Sassuolo in the same league?
CraftyToePoke
05/06/2023, 12:04 PM
Even that's not great. Strange setup really.
Where did you see that? Or do you know how John Ryan's doing at Sassuolo in the same league?
Flashscore App has the Primavera, tables, fixtures, scorers.
Even that's not great. Strange setup really.
Where did you see that? Or do you know how John Ryan's doing at Sassuolo in the same league?
Transfermarkt
They've John Ryan down as playing in 16 games this season for their U19s and starting 6 games for their U18s though surprised at that as thought he'd be overage for their U18s. The 16 games for their U19s he started 6 and was an unused sub in 16 other games.
Though if John Ryan was able to play U18s and U19s this season then McJannet and Abankwah might be able to play U19s again next season. Helpful for McJannet as he's never been involved with their seniors but hopefully Abankwah pushes on.
Razors left peg
05/06/2023, 7:24 PM
Abankwah is similar enough to Ebosele in the sense that he has already played a lot of 1st team football so it doesnt bother me that he on the bench every week in Serie A while training with the 1st team on a daily basis. You'd hope going into next season both will challenge more often for starting spots but I think in general its been a good 1st season there for both
Starts at RB today for Charlton.
tommy_c12000
30/09/2023, 2:23 PM
Poor start at Charlton, started last two games at wing back, awful fan reviews on their forum and X. Out of squad today. Pity he’s not playing more centrally. Hopefully he can rebound back and get some solid game time. He’s a talent
Looks to be on his way back to Udinese in January. Hasn't made a match day squad in the league after those two games. Only other game he was involved in was the first round of the FA Cup against non league opposition which finished 1-1.
Razors left peg
12/12/2023, 4:18 PM
Abankwah not doing well at Charlton has really surprised me. I genuinely thought he was too good for L1 and was disappointed when he went there. Hopefully it was a case of just a bad fit for him and he rebounds with a better loan in 2nd half of the season. I still like him as a player so Im hoping this is no more than a hiccup for him
Eirambler
12/12/2023, 4:47 PM
I thought he'd go well there too. He's only 19 though so has time on his side. Will be under 21 eligible again in the next campaign.
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