Odubeko standoff continues
STEPHEN KENNY admits he is no closer to resolving Mipo Odubeko’s international future.
The West Ham striker – who made two FA Cup appearances last season – is stalling on whether to side with Ireland.
He withdrew from an Irish Under-21 squad for a friendly against Wales in March and asked not to be considered for the summer camp in Spain.
Tallaght-born Odubeko was disappointed to be dropped from the Ireland squad for the U17 European Championships in Ireland two years ago.
The 18-year-old is also eligible for Nigeria and England and Kenny revealed yesterday that the current standoff continues.
“He’s a very good player in terms of a prospect and scored some goals for West Ham Under-23s,” said Kenny.
“Jim Crawford (above) wanted to call him up to the U21s and he seemed happy to come up but there was a change of plan.
“I spoke to his agent who seems quite influential in the proceedings.
“They said they were going to take some time to find out, and just concentrate on the club career and not make any international decisions yet.”
But Kenny said there was no sense Odubeko was looking for a senior call-up before settling on his long-term future.
The Ireland boss continued: “It wasn’t, ‘We’ll do this if you move him to the seniors’. It wasn’t that discussion at all.
“It’s just that international football wasn’t something they wanted to commit to at the moment. That was the agent. Down the line they’d consider it. We’ll have to just wait.”