When news broke on Sunday that an Irish teenager was set to get his first Serie A start, the man who introduced him to the game 11 years ago went rummaging through a drawer for a scrapbook.
It took a while but he eventually found the page he was looking for.
Melview versus Stonepark, September 2012, Abbeycarton, Longford.
READ MORE: Ange Postecoglou explains Tottenham decision in emotional farewell message to Celtic
“Debut for James Abankwah,” the author wrote.
The kid was eight-years-old then, playing two years out of his age group. “He had to - he was that good,” says John Shaw, the first man to play Ireland’s newest superstar in an organised game of football.
He reckons there were about 25 people watching Abankwah’s debut in the Longford and District League on that Saturday morning. On Sunday in Udinese’s Dacia Arense there were 25,000 in attendance for the latest chapter in the life and times of James Bright Adusei Abankwah.
“Was I proud? Absolutely,” says Shaw.
“But was I surprised? Not one bit.
“From the moment I first saw him lace up his boots, I knew he was special.
“Like, I remember the first night he came to training. He was eight-years-old; the brother, Isaac, was with him.
“Physically, James towered over boys his age, so straight away, we moved him up to his older brother’s team.
“And even there he stood out. Speed, strength, skill - he ticked every box.
“I remember saving his father’s number into my phone that night after training. ‘James Abankwah Superstar,’ I wrote next to his number.
“For that is exactly what he is. Even as a kid he was outrageously talented, but incredibly humble. Ask him to do anything, he’d give it a go.
“One day, in a Connacht Cup quarter-final, we were trailing 3-0. ‘James I need you to go centre-forward for us. We need three goals.’
“He got two screamers and hit the bar with another effort.
“He was spectacular.”
Another day, another story.
Shaw’s Melview team were in a local final. But the two Abankwah brothers were double booked, dancing on stage in the county Scór na nÓg final.
The only solution was for Shaw to send his wife to the Scór, collect the brothers once htey were finished on stage, and race across Longford for the final. “The game kicked off with the boys still changing out of their costumes into the kit. But they made it in time. We won the game...and they also won the Scór.
“They weren’t just super talented but super committed. There was another big game when they both had chicken pox. ‘We won’t let the team down, John,’ they said. And they didn’t. They turned up, their arms covered in chamomile lotion. And they were brilliant. Brilliant, brilliant, lads. To say I’m proud of what he did on Sunday is the understatement of the century.
“I texted him yesterday morning. ‘Well done.’ Straight away my phone pings. Message from James Abankwah Superstar. “Thanks, John,” he wrote. Ah, he’s a diamond. An absolute diamond.”
But it is the nature of football that jewels get mined.
So even when he was as young as 12, Abankwah’s name was known far beyond Longford’s borders.
Cherry Orchard called.
He listened.
The step-up in standard didn’t faze him, the bigger issue being how could a 12-year-old get to and from training twice a week.
Somehow they managed it, Abankwah regularly making the four-hour round trip by bus.
Suddenly he was being noticed again, St Patrick’s Athletic partnered with Cherry Orchard at underage level, getting him at 15.
“Ironically we had been watching a different player,” says Ger O’Brien, the St Pat's head of academy, “but each time we went to see him, James looked so calm and strong on the pitch that we knew we had to sign him.”
The big fish kept on moving into bigger ponds.
And still he was not out of his depth, fast-tracked to the St Pat’s U19s side when he was 16 and then to their first-team at 17.
“We had a derisory offer for him when he was 16,” says O’Brien. “I won’t mention the club but they are in the SPL. It wasn’t even a five-figure sum, so we turned it down, and we brought James and his father into the club to explain why.
“The package we put together for James centred around his education and a path to our first-team. ‘We are not going to hold you back here,’ we said to James, ‘but we believe this is the best platform for you to move to a higher level. Sure enough, when Udinese showed an interest, he got a brilliant move, where his personal terms were way better than the ones the SPL club were offering.”
Pat’s did alright out of the deal, too, pocketing a reported €400,000.
Yet even though the player has moved on and Pat’s are now concentrating on moulding the next James Abankwah, O’Brien, like Shaw, has retained a personal interest in the 19-year-old.
“I think it is an incredible journey he's on,” O'Brien says. “Everything he has put into his career - the bus journeys from Longford to Dublin as a 12-year-old, the Italian lessons he took during his last six months here, prior to his Udinese move, the desire he showed in his 24 games for our first-team, you learn about a person’s character from those moments.
“So, it’s a brilliant story for him to make a full Serie A debut.
“He has had to be patient, has not played a lot of football this season, but the sporting education he will have received in that company will be incredible. I’m proud. What is it that motivates you and drives you? It’s getting a text at 6.30 on a Sunday to tell you one of your former players will be on the telly at 8pm, facing Juventus.”
Yet while there is a Roy of the Rovers element to this take, everyone knows that if Abankwah’s name is to be known beyond the tight confines of his former mentors, then one Serie A start will have to evolve into 100.
Can it?
Here’s Alan Mathews, the St Pat’s director of football: “James has it. He has all the physical attributes required to be a top modern-day centre-half. And as he gets older, especially being in the environment he’s in now, his understanding of the game will just get better and better and better. We are absolutely delighted for him.”
So too was the Udinese coach, Andrea Sottil, who described Abankwah as the ‘future of Udinese’ in his post-match interview, a point Shaw - the coach who first put him on a football pitch all those years ago - wasn’t shy to endorse.
“Liam Brady left his mark on Italy, putting the Irish flag down there," Shaw says.
“But this kid can be even better. He can be the best Irish player ever. And I know how proud he is to be Irish. Almost as proud as I am of him.”
READ NEXT:
Brendan Rodgers and Jesse Marsch in Celtic frame to replace Ange Postecoglou
McGregor most influential Irish athlete on IG as he earns 58 times more than KT
Pro boxer Lee Reeves' quest to become world champion in memory of his mum
Rory McIlroy suffers disappointing final round as Viktor Hovland wins Memorial Tournament
Cora Staunton highlights "worry for Mayo going forward" after narrow win over Louth
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts
