Last Wednesday evening saw the confirmation of Irish club football’s worst kept secret with the announcement of a pre-contract agreement for the transfer of 16-year-old goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu from Shamrock Rovers to Manchester City next summer. Not only do I believe that this transfer is of massive benefit to the club but also to the entire Irish club football scene.
Bazunu has gone on an astonishing rise to the Hoops first team this year. Having been with the club from a young age, Bazunu had risen through the underage teams and made his first-team debut in early June. His four league appearances for the club all resulted in clean sheets, and a magnificent penalty save against Cork City topped it all off. Even following the arrival of experienced shot-stopper Alan Mannus, he kept his place in the side and started the two legs of the Europa League tie against AIK Stockholm.
The scouts soon took notice throughout this period with the likes of Celtic, Norwich, Brighton, Spurs, Newcastle, and Liverpool all sending their men over to have a look. But it was soon apparent that it was the Manchester outfit which led the race. Pictures emerged at the beginning of September of Bazunu signing forms with City’s academy director Jason Wilcox which confirmed they’d won the race.
With the initial fee being reported to be around the £420,000 mark with various clauses included which would see the price rise in the future, the fee becomes the record for non-professionals in League of Ireland. In comparison to some of the fees which are being thrown about for young talent by British clubs recently, this may seem measly. But the long-term effect which this transfer will have would be far more valuable for football in this country.
This transfer is the first major success story to come since the introduction of National Leagues at underage level in the country which has gradually come into play from 2014 onwards. The change into the new underage football structure was one which was much needed. For years we had witnessed the same big named schoolboy clubs sweep up what they perceived as the best talent in the country with most prioritising the clinching of honours and success for the club ahead of the actual development of players.
The old system may have worked in the past, but year on year we’ve witnessed the diminishing number of Irish players playing top-level football in Europe. As modern football developed over the last two decades, the old system failed to keep up the pace. The new system allows our top-level clubs to provide young players the chance to play in a professionally ran league environment week in week out, something that wasn’t previously happening. It also allows the opportunity for players to test themselves on a European level with Bohemians U19’s recently qualifying for the UEFA Youth League.
Shamrock Rovers have been the pioneers in the change with the Roadstone project aiming to provide an academy set up which would give young players the option of developing their football skills in Ireland instead of rushing off to England. Already since the beginning of the project, we’ve witnessed handfuls of academy talents make the step up to the first team.
The Bazunu story and resulting transfer will now open English club’s eyes to the talent and ongoing development of the underage structure in the country. Having seen the figure that City have paid, more clubs will develop a trust in what is present in our clubs. For the good of Irish football, we need to hope that other clubs will follow the lead of Rovers.
Not only will it improve the quality of first-team club football in the country, but it will also benefit the ever-declining national team, and when the time comes for the cream of the crop to move one, it will provide the potential for sizeable transfer fees which will only help the long-term financial stability of clubs. Gavin Bazunu may be a man the whole country will be needing to thank in years to come.
