Just looking for basic info on him, I found these:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7241059/Manchester-United-fail-tie-teenage-goalscoring-sensation-Mipo-Odubeko-new-contract.html
https://www.the42.ie/mipo-odubeko-we...67317-Oct2019/
Last edited by tetsujin1979; 12/01/2021 at 10:24 AM. Reason: deactivated link to the mail
You can't spell failure without FAI
Odubeko looks to be a really good prospect. Unfortunately there's some doubt on here on whether the will want to play for us if he does turn out to be good enough for England.
was he born in Ireland?
Born and raised in Dublin - https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/...-isle-east-end
Cabra as far as I’m aware
Surely he will either play for Nigeria or us?
He's eligible for England if he spent 5 years there before he was 18, which he did. The same way Oko-Flex dabbled with England.Originally Posted by Diggs246
It's purely paranoid speculation coming from my snooping, but he wiped his Instagram of Ireland photos and follows England's account but not Ireland.
He played with Crumlin and is for all intents and purposes a Dub, but there's no way of telling what his national allegiance will be. If he's not in the U19s in March then I'd be worried.
He turned 18 in October, do we know when he moved to the UK?
He was with Manchester United in 2016 - https://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/unde...-double-header - so he's there at least four years
As I posted in the under 23 thread:
The last I can find of him playing for St Joseph's is in 2015: http://dairewalsh.com/?p=3630
He would have been 12 at the time as he turned 18 in October 2020. He could have been schooled in England for 15/16, 16/17, 17/18, 18/19 and 19/20 before turning 18 in October 2020.
He was at Man City before Man United so, he could have moved to Man City (his first English club) in time to begin the 15/16 school year. That is what this Nigerian website reckon- he relocated to England with family at 12 in time for the 15/16 school year: https://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/rea...76126419175533
His last appearances for Ireland were for friendlies against Finland in the build up to the u17 Euros in Ireland in 2019. So did he not make the squad for the tournament or was there something else? There was an u18 friendly and u19 qualifiers in late 2019 which he wasn't involved in, but otherwise no other opportunities due to Covid. Looks like his social media accounts are run by a management company now, so wouldn't read too much into them.
This is not good, whatever way you spin it. Not beyond rescue hopefully but a nationality wipe is harsh.
I would definitely be concerned about this lads commitment to us. It was strange at the time that he didn't make that Under 17 finals squad, as though possibly he asked not to be selected but it was never publicised. Wouldn't be at all surprised if he went with England for a while at least, agents are filling young players heads with the potential riches associated with being an England international these days. If he was only here until age 12 his affinity towards us might not be strong at all.
I suppose the question then is could be switch back in a few years time - was it just friendlies he played for us or did he play in any qualifiers for that under 17 tournament?
We were hosts for that u17 tournament so no competitive qualifiers.
Might be a player to try and fast track, rather than have him knocking about with u19s etc.
Maybe he doesn’t want to play for us. After Rice and Grealish maybe we need to have a bit more self respect. Those two played the system and when England came calling were orf. The Irish National Team has to command some respect from the Irish People and Not be some sort of finnishing school for players that really want to play for England / Other.
Good point - I forgot we didn't have to qualify.
I guess we'll find out either way in the spring. Although England announced some underage squads not too long ago at various age groups and he wasn't included in any of them. At least if he does indeed want to play for another country there's a route back if he sees the error of his ways!
100% The appeasement of Rice was mortifying. We degraded ourselves with Bamford as well, and I would have vomited if we had Redmond in our team after he played for England
Odubeko was born and raised in Ireland though, so it's a bit different. Irish is his primary nationality and likely his only passport at present.
It's complicated for the Irish-Nigerian lads though, they are likely the first generation of their family who is Irish, it's understandable to have different levels of affinity to the country.
Chiedozie Ogbene was in the same school as me, amazing gaelic football player and as big a Cork man as they come. He was adamant about representing Nigeria until a few years ago and changed his mind last year. Completely understandable for Odubeko to be undecided and uncommitted as yet.
I think we would probably all benefit from not obsessing over every dual-national that comes along. The James McCarthy thread was ridiculous for about two years.
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