Any doubts about how James Abankwah might handle his big move to Italy are quickly dispelled when you listen to his story.
One thing is for sure, Udinese’s 18-year-old recruit from St Pat’s is not afraid to embrace adventure as he has lived his life on the road up to now.
The son of Ghanaian parents, he was born here as his father, Isaac Lartey Abankwah, relocated to Ireland as Reverend Minister at The Christian Church of Pentecost.
And because of his Dad's job, Abankwah lived in Waterford, Donegal, Longford, Kildare and Dublin but although he now resides in Lucan, he calls Longford home.
As a 12-year-old, having been spotted playing at Melview FC, he regularly trekked to Dublin for training sessions with Cherry Orchard.
“Sometimes my Mam wouldn't be able to drop me to training, so I'd have to get the bus up from Longford myself,” he said.
“They (his coaches) would pick me up at the bus stop, bring me to training, drop me back at the bus stop and get the bus back to Longford.”
It was character building stuff, but Abankwah - who had trials growing up in England and France - admits that moving around so often made it hard to settle.
“As a kid, we would make friends and then leave them behind. It was quite tough and affected me a small bit but I got used to it,” he explained.
“My Dad is a Reverend Minister and wherever he gets transferred to, he has to move.
“He knows beforehand and would get us ready. He’d be told in January and end up moving in August. We’d have some months to get our heads around it.
“But he also moved to Barcelona in Spain from 2015 to 2019.
“He advised the family to stay here because he knew that he’d be coming back, but it was tough not having that fatherly figure around.
“Any break that we got, we’d go over to him. But the Christian Church of Pentecost, he’s been in it his whole life.
“And it’s very important in my life. I go to church on Sundays when I don’t have training or games. I get involved as well.”
So, relocating to the Italian city Udine does not faze the teenager one bit. In fact, he is more worried about his Leaving Cert exams next month.
They finish on June 24 and Abankwah reports for first-team, pre-season training with Udinese on July 4.
The club is providing him with an apartment - that he gets to pick himself - as well as a chef as, by his own admission, he can’t cook.
His mother, Comfort, offered to accompany him to Italy for the first month but Abankwah declined as he wanted to go it alone.
A keen drummer, he hasn’t ruled out buying a set once he settles in. He’ll certainly get to know the neighbours in that event.
But the fact that Udinese have also signed Wexford man Festy Ebosele from Derby County will help with the bedding in period.
If he didn’t already have enough going on in his life, Abankwah is also learning Italian with two private sessions a week on top of his school work.
“It's something I wanted to do myself. It would be nice to be able to speak another language,” he said.
“It will be very helpful and when the manager is speaking I'll be able to interact and have a few words with him and my team-mates.”
If Abankwah becomes a Serie A regular, the Ireland underage star could one day force his way into Stephen Kenny’s senior plans.
“It has always been Ireland for me, I never had anyone from Ghana contact me,” he added. “I’d love to grow up and play for the first-team with Ireland.”
But Abankwah admits he was ‘thrown’ the first time he experienced racism in Ireland.
The talented defender yesterday launched the ‘Football For Unity 2022 festival’. The tournament is hosted by Sport Against Racism Ireland (SARI) and the Dublin North East Inner City initiative, between June 6 and July 15.
Abankwah revealed he was subjected to a racist taunt from a parent of an opposing team when he was a 10-year-old playing in Longford.
“It was pretty stupid back then and I have gotten over it, but I was thrown by it," he said.
“I didn't think football could be like that. My Dad was at the game and he went over to have a word with him.
“It was tough because I had gone down to enjoy football, play with my mates, and to hear that on the sideline is not great at all.”
And Abankwah discussed another incident where his father was forced to produce his son’s passport to prove his age.
“Back then it was a serious matter. It’s something that especially happens with black players,” he said.
But Abankwah feels Irish society has moved on since then and points to the diversity in the Ireland senior squad as a case in point.
Gavin Bazunu, Adam Idah and Andrew Omobamidele are among the rising Ireland stars born here but of African descent.
And Nigerian-born Chiedozie Ogbene is fast becoming one of the poster boys of Stephen Kenny's national team.
Abankwah said: “You can see it is changing. It’s great having that mixture in the team and it helps the team as well.
“Black or white, we still bleed the same. I don’t see why there should be a need to throw racist slurs about.”
See www.footballforunity.ie for more information on the Football For Unity Festival or to register a team.
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts
