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.
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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.
West Ham’s Ademipo Odubeko ‘will play for Ireland again’ insists agent amid Nigeria speculation:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/w...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 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.
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..."Quote:
Originally Posted by Trequartista20
I'm sure there are two sides to that one and the truth surely lies in the middle.
I'd be taking anything that comes from Mipo Odubeko or his agent with a massive pinch of salt at this stage.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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_AdarabioyoQuote:
Originally Posted by Trequartista20
Incidentally, after playing for England at under 16, under 17, under 18, and under 19 level, Tosin has spoken about declaring for NigeriaQuote:
. His oldest brother, Gbolahan, serves as his representative
* Posted this before I read the rest of the article, it's mentioned at the end that he is Tosin's representative
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.
Perhaps... but we're talking about the FAI here... so it's at least plausibleQuote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
That's very interesting and I see that all Adarabaiyo brothers have history with Man City- like Odubeko himself.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by seanfhear
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.
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!
Why would you box yourself into a corner for no reason?Quote:
Originally Posted by CSAD
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.
But isnt that the point, he wasnt picked so he thinks he has some moral right to exclude himself from future squad. That's not football, it's not how it worksQuote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
Actually it is how it works if you're good enough.Quote:
Originally Posted by Diggs246
still hasn't made a decision about his international future: https://www.the42.ie/mipo-odubeko-re...03155-Jul2021/
Forget-about-him. Another one waiting for England to call.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Time to take a hard line and stop this kind of thing happening. Odubeko today, somebody else tomorow. I don't care what kind of wonderkids we lose, pandering to inflated egos isn't worth it. 'I need time to consider my future' should default to 'goodbye' in response. Conflicted identity at 18? Give me a break: this is a young man who had the bottle to walk out on Man Utd to improve his career prospects. Everything is a calculation with him. I wish him a long and successful career but if his international journey continues this way, I really don't care who it's with because it won't be us. (Though I'd take Nigeria over England all day long, and I'm from England!)
The eligibility pendulum has swung too far in favour of players. It's basically become caps for cash at this stage. FIFA need to take a long hard look at this again. Of course, they won't. Why would they? Myself, I favour a cooling-off period of at least a couple of seasons if you want to change allegiance and have been called-up, and a line between underage and senior - if you've played at any underage level for one country (I'd except the Olympics because it's an IOC not FIFA event, but not u23 itself), you're only eligible for senior with your new choice.
FWIW, I have a feeling - more a hope really - that if more of our young players born or raised here get moves to continental leagues (the Brexit dispensation) it will cut down on both our reliance on 2 and 3G players in the UK, and the numbers playing us while holding out for an England call-up.
I’m pretty straight on this, call him up for the u21 qualifiers, if he declines never contact him again until he decides to contact us.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eminence Grise
Ive been saying this for years, it has to be a zero tolerance policy. In or outQuote:
Originally Posted by Eminence Grise
Its particularly offensive when the lad was raised and learnt all his football here that he will treat us with such contempt
Nigeria or Ireland was and is his choice, pick one and shut up. Personally I don't want him and I know how desperate we are for a goal scorer.
Looks at this he is a total tw*t
"Mipo Odubeko was born in Dublin and played with St Joseph’s Boys, with his links to current Ireland U21 manager Jim Crawford going back to those schoolboy days when Crawford used to give the youngster lifts to training along with his own son and Odubeko’s older brother"
Who knows that kind of advice they are giving out at West ham
That is mad re Crawford alright. But between the agent and West Ham, I would be very concerned about those in his ear. Kenny fairly pointedly referenced the agent a couple of times.
Have English Roast Beef with your Rice = = I reckon !Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Whatever course achieves maximum value for them, protecting him meanwhile from any value damaging injuries playing internationally for anyone ( unless England call on him )Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Something along those lines I'd say
Alright, calm down everybody - realistically Odubeko isn't going to be called into a senior Irish until next summer, won't be called up for competitive action until the Nations League next autumn and won't be required for a major qualifier until March of 2023 - so Kenny has made his presentation, Odubeko's agent hasn't said no, just that he's focusing on his club career so let him get set up and if he breaks through, revisit the issue at the end of the season. And while it does look like he could be the cream of the crop of this generation of Irish strikers, even without him it's still looking like a very good crop.
I go over and back on this guy. Not everyone thinks the same way about nationality. Obviously we are all passionate Ireland fans or we wouldnt be posting on here so its hard for a lot of us to understand why someone would turn down a call up. But a kid who grew up with Nigerian parents in Ireland but moved to England as a young age is different to a guy who have lived in same town in Ireland all his life within 10 miles of where he was born.
He is a professional footballer who wants to make the most amount of money he possibly can in a short career. If he doesnt particularly feel very patriot about anywhere then he will make the decision that is best for his career. Its better he holds off to make that decision rather than doing what Rice did and play 3 full senior games, or Grealish who turns up to collect a player of the year award and then switch right after.
Ive lived in the States for a while now, my wife is Portuguese. If we had a son good enough to play international football god knows who he would play for. Shes as passionate about Portuguese football as I am about Irish, but yet he would grow up the US system. His sense of patriotism wouldnt be the same as a lad growing up in Galway.
Rory McIlroy has spoken about this in the past. He doesnt really feel a sense of patriotism for anywhere. He grew up in a divided NI. I think at one point he said he does feel British and he got hammered for it, yet he probably singlehandly kept the Irish Open alive for years and now he is playing for Ireland in the Olympics, like he played for Ireland as an amateur. But yet if you look at the comment section on an social media about Rory its full of idiots bitching about his nationality. The guy travels the world and lives in Florida, so what if he doesnt feel the same as James McClean.
My point goes back to Mipo. At times I've said we need to move on from him since he didnt turn up to the 21s, but if he genuinely is conflicted then lets see what happens. England doing so well in the Euros and seeing how the whole country went nuts probably wont help our case. Particularly seeing how Rice is treated as a hero in the club.
Even after all of that he still has only scored goals in the U23s. Parrott, Connolly and Idah have all done that and we are still waiting for them to kick on...... Mipo could end up being sh1te!
Rory McIlroy said he's going to Tokyo to work on his golf game and representing Ireland don't really mean anything to him.
Hence, Rory means nothing to me.
I've no issue with Mipo playing for Nigeria. He is ethnically Nigerian, his parents were both born there. I'd expect him to be proud of his Nigerian background. If he needs a little bit of time to figure out between Ireland and Nigeria, I'm ok with that.
But if he plays for England, then he is morally bankrupt and I wouldn't want anything to do with him.
I can understand Grealish and Rice playing for England more than this guy who was born here and lived here til he was 14.
Im gonna play devils advocate here. If someone came to you and said you would make millions of Euros more in your job but you have to get an English passport would you do it? I would and Im proud to be Irish. Your career is a different thing. If you really dont care one way or another what flag you have behind you then you make the decision of whats best financially for you and your family.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fixer82
Plot Twist: you get racially abused by thousands of your fans for missing a penalty.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razors left peg
Valid point!Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
I like RLP’s post on this. Nationality, like everything else, is getting more and more fluid these days.
He is not impressing in senior football thus far and will need a loan this season to see where he lands. He/his agent has likely overplayed his hand. England will unlikely be an option. Let’s see what happens in the coming months, he will eventually commit to Nigeria or Ireland and so be it. I wouldn’t get too worked up about it.
One thing people don’t seem to realize is it isn’t that high a bar to get selected for an England squad (it’s competitive yes but not nearly as competitive as some think it is), let’s not forget when Grealish and Rice were debating which country to play for the narrative was “oh, he’ll get 60+ caps playing for Ireland or 2-3 caps playing for England” and yet look where they are now, hell if even Bamford is being talked about being selected for England, the fact he was ever even in the conversation shows you that you should never say never on a player. Quite afew England CF’s were in less glamorous positions at the same age so it’s best not to decide a 19 year olds future so young.Quote:
Originally Posted by tommy_c12000