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