When he dreamed of playing Champions League football, a young Mipo Odubeko likely had visions of himself running out in the group stages in the blue of Manchester City or red of neighbours United.
It’s been a wild ride for the Dubliner so far, with a list of clubs that would suggest he is older than his 22 years.
But after spells with City, United, West Ham, Portuguese side Maritimo and Fleetwood Town, and loans to Huddersfield, Doncaster and Port Vale, his Champions League journey finally begins back in his hometown.
Mipo Odubeko playing with Manchester United's Under-16 against Jack Turner of Southampton (Image: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
Shelbourne’s return to Europe’s premier competition, after a 20-year absence, presents Odubeko with a chance to shine on the big stage.
And an opportunity to show everyone that the potential that once had the biggest clubs scrambling for him can be fulfilled.
Plenty of people within the game have had their say on this talented youngster over the course of his career so far.
Shels’ new boss Joey O’Brien was the latest, when he was asked yesterday about Odubeko’s ability to make his mark in Europe.
“He’s been good. In the last few games he’s been really, really good,” said O’Brien.
“I think a lot of our players, in the last few weeks, have played really well, and he’s one of them.
“When he is on it, he’s a handful, sometimes he can be unplayable. So hopefully he is that over this tie.”
Others haven’t been so complimentary. Recently, there was Roddy Collins, with his infamous remark that the Shelbourne striker was “probably one of the worst finishers I've seen in Irish football.”
The colourful pundit added that despite his criticism, he would “pick (Odubeko) every week because of his other attributes.”
Sign up for our League of Ireland news service on Whats App
Click this link or scan the QR code to receive the latest League of Ireland news and top stories from the Irish Mirror. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
This brought about a stinging retort from the man that brought Odubeko to Shels, Damien Duff, whose recent Tolka Park exit rocked the League of Ireland.
“I love Roddy but I think it’s a really poor comment, really poor,” he said, “Especially about a young boy who has maybe been a bit lost at times, bouncing from club to club.
“We’ve given him that foundation to kick on his career. Hopefully that’s here, or really do well and go back to England.”
Duff added that Collins needed to do his “homework” after making “an awful comment.”
Collins, however, wasn’t the first to voice frustration with the former St Joseph’s Boys prospect who, as Duff said, bounced around before landing at the Irish champions last winter in a surprise move.
For Ireland Under-21 boss Jim Crawford, there was a time four years ago when he had to address Odubeko’s refusal to answer a call-up.
Ireland’s Mipo Odubeko (Image: INPHO/Tommy Dickson)
With Nigeria and England sniffing around, Crawford said: “I would like to sit down with Mipo. Whether I can get over to the UK for a chat with him, to see what his plans are with regard to international football, and to get a concrete answer.”
Less than a year later, Odubeko was in the Under-21 squad, with Crawford explaining that it had been “made clear to me that he always wanted to play for Ireland but that at that particular stage of his young career, he wanted to concentrate and focus on club football.”
Odubeko is clearly an independent thinker. There aren’t many teenagers who self-exile from international football.
Nor are there many who would turn down a contract extension from Manchester United, when the Red Devils are clearly desperate to hold onto them.
But that’s what happened with Odubeko when United attempted to tie him down to a long-term deal after he scored 35 goals for the club’s Under-18s.
Shortly after his 17th birthday, he left Old Trafford for West Ham, believing that his potential would have a better chance of being unleashed at the London club.
At this time he was attracting attention, according to The Athletic in a 2021 profile of Odubeko, of Juventus, Bayern Munich and others.
Soon after his 18th birthday he made his Hammers first-team debut in the FA Cup against Stockport County. He made one more appearance, against his former club United, before he was released at the end of the 2022/23 campaign.
After spells in the Portuguese second-tier and at Fleetwood, Odubeko’s independent streak shone through once again.
Considering he had been in England from the age of 14, it can’t have been easy to answer Duffer’s call and return to his hometown last winter.
Mipo Odubeko of Shelbourne and Paddy Barrett of Shelbourne celebrates (Image: INPHO/James Lawlor)
Yet he did what he has always done - and gone with what he believed was best for his career.
He was lured by Duff’s honest and direct approach and said: “I can feel he’s someone who really wants me to do well and get the best out of me. I really want to have someone like that to work with at the moment.
“He’s very honest about how he feels the past couple of years of my career have gone and how he sees the future.”
Now it’s the turn of O’Brien to get the best out of one of the most exciting striking prospects to emerge from Ireland in recent times.
It’s been a year of highs and lows so far, and pundits such as Collins haven’t been shy to criticise, but as O’Brien says, Odubeko can be “unplayable” when he is at his best.
This probably isn’t the Champions League stage that he saw himself on all those years ago, when he arrived in England as a 14-year-old.
But it could be just the platform he needs to do what Duff once said of him, when he offered Odubeko the “foundation to kick on his career” at Shelbourne.
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox bysigning up for free email.