Ireland’s Jonathan Afolabi arrived at Celtic in 2019 via Southampton, in one of those cross-border raids on English league talent that allowed the Celts to operate a scatter-gun approach to signings full of youthful promise, ready perhaps to make the next step up, but with the added bonus they could be hoovered up for a fraction of the compensation English based teams would have had to pay.
Celtic had success in such cross-border moves, particularly in the case of Jeremie Frimpong, who played his part in Celtic’s success then swelled the club accounts in a season where Covid had impacted on the bank balance.
Other such as Afolabi and his Irish teammates Luca Connell and Lee O’Connor, weren’t quite so lucky, barely registering with the Celtic support, before as Afolabi did, heading out on loan after loan until their contracts ran down.
And Afolabi certainly came with a reputation. Southampton were annoyed it seemed to see him leave and Afolabi had been named amongst the eleven players selected by UEFA’s technical staff as the overall team of the tournament at the U-19 Euro finals in Armenia in 2019.
Now playing with Bohemians in Ireland, Afolabi as reported in the Independent.ie has taken time out to reflect on both his time spent with Celtic, the lessons hard learned and his belief he can kick on now in Irish football and perhaps prove himself worth another crack at the big-time and eventually the ultimate goal of getting that first cap for Ireland.
“That dream, playing for Ireland, will always be there for me,” Afolabi said. “I’ve put on that green shirt since I was a kid, playing up an age group for the U-19s, going to the Euro finals with the U19s, playing for the U21s. It will always be there for me to try and do that and I wouldn’t sell myself short, I have played for Stephen Kenny before with the U-21s and he knows what I am capable of, it’s up to me to show it. Everyone knows I have the ability, I just need to show that.
“That’s why this season is such a big year for me with Bohemians. I’m 23 now and I have a lot of time to make up for, trying to get back to the levels I was at, to show what I can do. I think everyone knows what I can do, it’s a matter of showcasing it for everyone.,” the former Celt said. “Spain had six players in the team of the tournament like Fernan Torres. They had all these lads from clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid, and I was the only player with ‘unattached’ beside their name.”
On his time at Celtic, Afolabi is candid and realistic about why it never quite worked out for him in Glasgow.
“After two years I think I knew I wasn’t going to make the first team, I had planned to get into the first team, that’s why I went there but there are very high expectations at a club like Celtic, they expect to win every game and you need to be at the top of your level to even have a sniff.
“I read that Celtic was bad for a lot of young Irish players, us not breaking through but there are two sides to it, if the players don’t perform, they have no reason to put you into the first team. We had different pathways and we’re making our way now in different ways.
“I take responsibility for stuff I could have done better, been more professional, I didn’t do anything wrong as such but there were steps I needed to take to improve, if I had taken all of my opportunities it could have been a different story for me at Celtic, you have to be ready when it happens.”
“I can’t say it was three wasted years, I learned the levels you need to be at, how professional you need to be, what hard work you need to put that Celtic shirt.”
It’s fair to say Celtic’s pathway plans for young players has seen many not quite fulfil their full potential at Celtic, and it may be others such as fellow Irish youngster Bosun Lawal will benefit from having Ange Postecoglou now take a more hands on approach as to how the young players develop at B-Team level prior to making the step-up to top team football.
It is not always the fault of Celtic of course. After all, as Afolabi admits, owning your own mistakes and learning from them, may come too late once that initial Celtic contract has run out, but there is little doubt under previous managers there was little in the way of individually tailored pathway plans at Celtic, and loan clubs chosen to aid development were not always the ideal destination for burgeoning talents to grow.
It may have come too late for Afolabi at Celtic, but the B-Team now having an environment to play competitive football, as well as ensuring the manager’s style of play and demands are mirrored under the watchful eye of Darren O’Dea and Stephen McManus can only improve young player’s prospects moving forward.
Add to that Ange Postecoglou’s inclusion of young hopefuls in first team training certainly helps bridge the gap, and is a welcome change to when Afolabi moved from England’s south coast to Glasgow’s east end in 2019.
Now, Jonathan Afolabi is training hard with Bohemians he will be looking to kick-start a career that at one stage had him mentioned in the same breath as Fernan Torres and Fabio Vieira. It can be a long road back to the top, but you wouldn’t put it past Afolabi to prove he still has the talent that attracted Celtic to him back in 2019.
Niall J
