Road less travelled the best route for Udinese’s James Abankwah

Abankwah was due to leave Udinese on loan during the summer but then new boss Kosta Runjaic took a shine to him.

Establishing a beachhead in a new land is one thing. Pushing on is another. Five Irish players joined Italian clubs in the nine months between August 2021 and July of the following year. Only one is currently playing for the same club.

Kevin Zefi has swapped Inter Milan for Roma, Festy Ebosele has left Udinese on loan for a stint at Watford, Cathal Heffernan has switched from AC Milan to Newcastle United while Aaron Connolly’s loan period at Venezia was done in the blink of an eye.

All of which leaves James Abankwah.

It hasn’t been anything like a straight road for the Republic of Ireland U21 player either. Abankwah had a disastrous loan spell at Charlton Athletic and word during the summer was that he was destined for another temporary chapter at St Patrick’s Athletic.

“In the summer I was meant to go on loan but then we got a new gaffer and he wanted to take me in and see what I am like. I have impressed him so far and he decided to keep me. The plan for now is to stay in Udinese and try break into the first team.”

The new boss is the German coach Kosta Runjaic who only took over in June. He is already the third manager Abankwah has known at the Serie A club, following on from the brief reigns of Gabrielle Cioffi and Andrea Sottil.

It was Sottil who gave the Irishman his first break with a few minutes off the bench against Bologna in April of last year, and a start against Juventus two months later. He described Abankwah at the time as part of a generation that would be the “future” of the club.

That future has yet to become the present.

Runjaic started the 20-year old in a Coppa Italia game against Salernitana late last month. He doled out more minutes off the bench against Lecce last Saturday before the player joined up with Jim Crawford’s U21s for a crucial Euro 2025 double-header.

These are small, incremental gains for a player who is now too old to feature again for Udinese’s U19s but he remains a disciple of the Italian job even as he has struggled to make his break and others drifted back to more familiar shores.

“Back in the day it would have been just turn 16 and go to England but, especially with Brexit now, League of Ireland clubs can keep their players a bit longer and when they do get to 18 they can obviously still go to England.

“But trying something new is better, well, for me. I don’t know what everyone else is like but my mindset is that I like a bit of a challenge and that’s the reason I went to Italy and it has been good since.”

Seeing the world wasn’t part of his thought process when making the decision to join Udinese but he has adapted just fine to the lifestyle, the weather, the food and the care the club takes in monitoring diet and body fat levels once a month. “The pasta is a lot different, it tastes nicer.”

The road less travelled wasn’t new. Abankwah’s childhood took him from Waterford to Lucan, Letterkenny, Longford and back to Lucan. Cherry Orchard played a huge role in his football education and that involved long journeys from the midlands.

Some of those were unaccompanied bus rides as a young teen, others with his older brother Isaac, when his mother wasn’t free to make the trip by car. He knew even then that this was something he needed to do to get where he wanted.

“Yeah, it was mental. I could be doing homework in the car, eating in the car. It was a crazy, crazy journey for me. Then with the bus, I would take the bus up and get someone to meet me on the other side, like my coach or whoever was available.”

Next on the list of destinations is Turner’s Cross where the Republic’s U21s will claim a play-off place for next year’s European Championships if they can beat Norway. Then a return to Italy where a win against the hosts would clinch an automatic qualifying spot.

Stranger things have happened.