Festy’s rise in fortunes still showing a big upward trend
IT has been quite the ride for Festy Ebosele over the last six months.
The Derby academy product has gone from being close to release to earning man of the match honours and netting his first senior goal in less than a year.
Towards the end of last season, when the Rams stayed up on the final day with a dramatic 3-3 draw at home to Sheffield Wednesday, the academy product was believed to be close to being let go by the club.
Manager Wayne Rooney took a shine to him, however, and felt the club under his stewardship had the leaders in place to get the best out of the 19-year-old.
The first change was a reboot in position. Ebosele had flitted between right-back and right wing during his days with the academy squads. But Rooney wanted to make the switch permanent, pushing Ebosele to a right winger on a fulltime basis.
It is believed the Derby coaching staff had question marks over Ebosele’s ability to defend at this stage. He is, of course, still learning.
At times he could be caught pushing too far up the pitch and relying on his speed to recover if a ball was played in behind him. He could overcommit to tackles or take poor angles when shepherding his opponent. Like many his age, he has been inconsistent.
But the raw skills which the young Irishman had – exceptional speed to stretch the pitch vertically, direct dribbling to get defenders on the back foot, and a gritty determination, all to go with a good understanding of timing his runs for midfielders to find him out wide – made him appealing for Rooney, who has been lacking wide options throughout his tenure.
It started with the young Irishman playing games as an attacker for the under-23s in the middle of last season and he was deployed there for the first team at the beginning of the 2021-22 campaign.
The one large area for improvement for Ebosele in the right wing position is his final ball. Often hitting the first man, or shanking it out of play, a lot of his good work can often be undone with a poor cross.
He has flashed enough ability for him to feature in 10 games in all competitions for Rooney this season. His finest hour came in the first round of the Carabao Cup against Salford City at Pride Park.
Even when the Rams were 2-0 down to their League Two opposition, Ebosele was the best player on the pitch. He was a constant thorn in Salford’s side: a rocket-fuelled menace sprinting down the touchline and giving Derby great impetus as they chased a comeback.
Derby won on penalties after a 3-3 draw in 90 minutes. Ebosele was fouled inside the box with 20 minutes remaining, allowing Colin Kazim-Richards to tuck away the penalty to make it 2-2.
After the match, he smiled for the cameras descending upon him; a wide toothy grin powered by the man of the match award he was clutching tightly.
Fans stayed afterwards and waited patiently until he had completed his post-match press duties to clap him down the tunnel and offer words of encouragement.
Outside Pride Park, he was greeted by a small group of friends who shared in his joy. Moments later, Kazim-Richards sauntered up to him, put a warm arm around him and offered his congratulations and promised to call the youngster.
Kazim-Richards has taken Ebosele under his wing, much as he does with a lot of the young players. Like every teenager, Ebosele has endured growing pains in football and life, such are the stages of maturity.
But he is by no means a poorly behaved young man, just simply going through the growing pains all young people go through.
The leadership and character Rooney has fostered within his team, bringing in Phil Jagielka, Richard Stearman and Sam Baldock, as well as retaining tested veteran KazimRichards and Curtis Davies, is an ideal environment for young players to thrive in.
And thrive he has. When Tom Lawrence jinked his way into the penalty box against Millwall and slid a pass to a wide-open Ebosele, he had the composure of a striker as he tucked it away.
The celebrations were wild, as all those representing Derby on the pitch, on the touchline and in the stands saw one of their own come of age.