While first-team additions remain elusive at West Ham United, the Premier League outfit are hard at work recruiting some of the best young talent around.
A ‘fantastic young footballer’ in Joel Kerr arrives from Northern Ireland. The 16-year-old forward was one of eleven teenagers to sign full-time scholarship contracts this week, alongside the likes of left-back Joe Scanlon and the prolific Chukwuemeka Obi, younger brother of Manchester United starlet Chido.
Kerr is joined at Rush Green by another rising talent from the other side of the sea. West Ham signed defender Callum Leacock from Linfield.
Scotland Under-19 striker Daniel Cummings has a serious fan in Mark Noble already, meanwhile; the Celtic B sensation moving south of the border in pursuit of first-team football.
Whether Cummings can force his way into the senior squad though, or whether he falls just short like Mipo Odubeko, remains to be seen.
Now 22 and back in Ireland with Shelbourne, Odubeko has no regrets about leaving Manchester United for West Ham United even if a couple of FA Cup cameos would be the closest he’d come to becoming an established first-teamer.
West Ham move holds no regrets for former Manchester United starlet Mipo Odubeko
Mipo Odubeko turned down a new contract at Manchester United before signing a three-year deal with West Ham shortly after his 17th birthday back in 2019.
Speaking more than half-a-decade later, the Dublin-born striker admits this was a decision made with a long-term plan in mind.
Like Cummings, who Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers appeared reluctant to promote despite a stunning record in reserve football, Odubeko felt that there was a ‘pathway’ to prominence available to him at the London Stadium.
“If I look at the players who would have been ahead of me, It would have been Mason [Greenwood] and Antony [Martial],” Odubeko says, reflecting on his decision to leave Old Trafford. “And a case where I had to be better than them to get an opportunity.
“So I looked elsewhere, and that was why I went to West Ham. And I did get a good pathway to the first-team!”
Odubeko joined under Manuel Pellegrini but it was on David Moyes’ watch that his opportunities arose.
“There was a point where I was in the first-team every day for maybe four, five, six months. Sort of the first half of 2021, every day training with them, in their training room. It was a good experience,” Odubeko adds.
“You are in with top pros every day, get to see how they conduct themselves, how they eat, how they train, what they do after training…
“It was really good and he [Moyes] was really good with me as well. It was good to learn from people like that.”
Odubeko reflects on his relationship with Michail Antonio
Odubeko played only twice for West Ham at senior level, including in a last-gasp FA Cup defeat to none other than Man United. He would also struggle for goals during loan spells at Huddersfield Town, Port Vale and Doncaster Rovers, before embarking upon a difficult stint with Portuguese outfit Maritimo.
Odubeko is back in familiar surroundings these days. He scored seven times last season for Shelbourne in the League of Ireland Premier Division.
Still a few months shy of his 23rd birthday, Odubeko is not giving up on a future at the top level. He looks upon the belated success of ex-Tottenham starlet turned AZ Alkmaar goal machine Troy Parrott and colossal Everton defender Jake O’Brien for inspiration, while remembering the advice bestowed upon him by none other than Michail Antonio.
“Michail Antonio was really good with me,” Odubeko says. “He really looked after me. He used to give me stick but he looked after me as well. I remember, when we would fly for away games sometimes, he would take me to Stansted with him and we would have good chats in the car.
“Players like Jesse [Lingard], Mark Noble, all those sort of guys [helped].
“I don’t really get too down or too happy about things,” he adds, half an eye on a return to England at some point in the near future. “I keep a steady pace you know. All it takes is one good move, one good season and you’re back where you need to be.
“In terms of what I think in my head, I don’t get too happy or too down.
“It all changes quickly in football. I’m not surprised it has changed so quickly for them [Parrott and O’Brien]. I think both of those guys are really good players. I’m really happy for them.”
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