Udinese set to sign James Abankwah for League of Ireland record fee

Junior Quitirna of Waterford in action against James Abankwah of St Patrick's Athletic during an SSE Airtricity League Premier Division match last year. Picture: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

Udinese are close to completing a swoop for St Patrick’s Athletic’s teenage defender James Abankwah for a record fee.

Gavin Bazunu’s €500,000 move to Manchester City from Shamrock Rovers in 2018 is currently the highest for a League of Ireland player but the Serie A side are prepared to pay a larger amount for the 18-year-old defender.

It is understood that Abankwah is in Italy tidying up the formalities subject to a medical. He will return to Ireland to sit his Leaving Cert in June while continuing to play for St Pat’s before moving to Italy permanently.

The centre-back’s appearance in the FAI Cup final off the bench for the concussed Paddy Barrett in November was his 13th first-team appearance.

He had signed his first professional contract in July, ensuring St Pat’s could command a substantial fee once the inevitable interest materialised.

The deal was brokered within weeks of St Pat's selling another Academy graduate, Glory Nzingo, to French club Stade de Reims.

Interest from Continental clubs in Irish talent has mushroomed since Brexit regulations prevented players moving to the UK until their 18th birthday.

Udinese are currently 15th in Serie A and are under caretaker charge of Gabriele Cioffi.

Meanwhile, Waterford native Lee O’Connor has opted to leave Celtic and upgrade his loan deal to Tranmere Rovers into a permanent transfer.

The defender, who is also comfortable in midfield, has been a lynchpin of the Tranmere side that are second in League Two.

O’Connor, 21, joined Celtic in 2019 from Manchester United but was one of the many Irishmen unable to break into the first-team. He was first loaned to Patrick Thistle before undertaking his first temporary switch to Tranmere last season.

“It was something I’ve wanted to do for a while as I’ve loved my time here so far,” said O’Connor, whose sole senior cap came under Mick McCarthy against New Zealand, a friendly in which he swung in a cross for Callum Robinson to head in his first international goal.

“I’ve really felt at home since my first day. Not only am I enjoying it personally but I think I’m developing really well and I just want to continue that.

“I feel like this is the best thing for my career and it was an easy decision. To play your best football you have to be happy and I’m happy.

His Tranmere Micky Mellon boss was thrilled to keep hold of O’Connor for their promotion charge and beyond.

He said: “We’re really pleased to sign Lee permanently. It’s really important that we have our own players when possible and everyone understands that. We’re really appreciative of our loan players but we’d always like to have players of Lee’s quality as our own player.

“We can continue to work with him, he knows where his future is going to be and we’ve got ourselves a really good midfielder/right-back for the foreseeable future."