CHIEDOZIE OGBENE INSISTS becoming a Premier League player is not the ceiling for his career.
And the 26-year-old says he is determined to make the most of his opportunity after admitting the rate of his development since making his Republic of Ireland debut in 2021 has taken him by surprise.
Luton Town made the Cork native their first signing of the summer transfer window after his contract with Rotherham United in the Championship ran out.
Ogbene explained how one other English top flight club had been “watching me from a distance” before the newly-promoted side made their move with a concrete proposal.
There had been interest from others in the Championship but the chance to head for the Premier League, having previously had a two-week trial at Chelsea during his early League of Ireland days with Limerick, was an opportunity he felt ready to grasp having also adapted quickly to the demands of international football since Stephen Kenny gave him his debut against Hungary.
“I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t think my international career was going to take off as quickly as it did. I was fortunate enough to have Keith Andrews helping me every day and the players as well that took me in. Who would have thought two years later I’d be in the Premier League? That’s what gives me confidence,” he said.
“When someone asked me ‘is the Premier League the ceiling?’ It’s not because what I’ve achieved in two years I don’t think many people have. I’ve told myself ‘I’ve got here. Now I’ve got to improve again to be better’. I’m 26. I’m hoping I’ll be sitting here in two years’ time at 28 encouraging young lads and saying ‘Look at my journey, look where I’ve come’. Hopefully they can be better than me but I’m still ambitious no matter what.
“Being here, I don’t take this for granted. I still get butterflies every time I come here. It’s the same feeling I had two years ago that I have now, that gives me confidence I’m going to push on.
“My brother said to me, ‘I remember when you went on trial to Chelsea, who would have thought?’ We laughed about it. I have to give myself some credit of how far I have come. In six years from Limerick FC to the Premier League. A manager said one in 200,000 do that. Joe Gamble said it. I rang him for advice and he told me I had to take it. It was a decision I was never going to say no to.”
So far in the Premier League Ogbene has had to make do with three appearances off the bench as Luton lost their opening games to Brighton, Chelsea and West Ham United. Ogbene feels is getting to grips with the increased demands and that there is no feeling of achievement just by being part of it.
“No, no, no. I was dying to be involved in the team. I’m upset that I’m not starting. That’s a good sign for me. The manager knows that. I don’t want to just say I competed in the Premier League,” he continues.
“I want to be effective in the Premier League and see where my career can go again. I have small targets and goals in life. The main one is international football. Now, it’s the Premier League. After a couple of months hopefully I’ll set another goal to push on. My goal right now is to help the team survive in the Premier League and see what we can do, so I always have goals for myself.”
Ogbene has mostly been an onlooker so far having been introduced as sub for the last quarter of an hour in each game, and that bedding in process is one he has tried to make the most of.
“I think, from watching at a distance, there is a lot of spaces. I think in the Premier League it’s very structural and the fullbacks are forward thinking. If we can just get that right tweak in terms of knowing when to press in transition, we can hurt teams because we have a very athletic team and if we can catch teams on the counter attack, we could really thrive in that league.
“[The manager] is always telling me I am training well, and I am taking in information very well. It’s similar to here [with Ireland] when I came in, no one is guaranteed to play and I knew that going in, no matter even if I signed for a Championship team I knew I wasn’t guaranteed to play, we have a really strong squad, the way the strikers play, it’s very physical.
“I am trying to learn that as well as the wide side. As I said there’s a lot of information to take in but I am very patient. I know the levels, it’s a step up and I will bide my time, I have to be ready when I get my time to make sure I take the opportunity. It would be arrogant of me to say I should be playing as the players who got Luton Town promoted to the Premier League are very good players, I just have to respect that, learn off them and be ready for my chance.”
Despite his lack of game time at club level, Ogbene will be a key component of an Ireland team that must try to frustrate and contain France while making the most of their rare chances to counter.
“If we can get a good result we’re back in control of our destiny. I had a serious discussion and I said ‘let’s be realistic here, we need something like three or four points to be competitive again’. So, we’ve put that kind of pressure on ourselves,” Ogbene says of Thursday’s game.
Ireland are third in Group B, level on points with Netherlands who come to Dublin on Sunday and still have a game in hand, while three adrift of Greece in second. France are the runaway leaders with a 100 per cent record in their opening four fixtures.
“I know we’re playing Holland and France but we need to get at least four points to have control of our destiny. Three points puts us back into it but we’re not in control. We want to be in control,” he adds.
“That’s the pressure the manager has put on us, and that’s the pressure we put on ourselves. We all want to achieve that but we can’t go in there saying ‘it’s the biggest game’ just to play the biggest game. We want to qualify for Germany and we’re not just here to compete. We’re pushing to qualify.”
