LIAM KERRIGAN IS the latest rising Irish star to make his way to Italy.
The U-21 international follows Cathal Heffernan (AC Milan), Kevin Zefi (Inter Milan), as well as James Abankwah and Festy Ebosele who have both joined Udinese.
The latter, recently included in Stephen Kenny’s senior international squad, is the only one who didn’t leave from the League of Ireland, joining as a result of Derby County’s financial troubles.
Kerrigan, the UCD graduate, is awaiting international clearance before being officially confirmed as a Como player – the Serie B club that is owned by the company belonging to Indonesia’s wealthiest man, and who installed former Chelsea captain Dennis Wise as chief executive in 2019.
According to Forbes, Robert Budi Hartono is worth $20.7 billion, so the €800,000 his Djarum Group paid for a bankrupt Como in an auction in 2017 was loose change.
This is a club with serious backing, one that has risen from Serie D to B in five years and gained its latest promotion as champions of Serie C last season.
Cesc Fabregas has been linked with a move in recent days while Jack Wilshere, who announced his retirement during the week, spent a fortnight with them on a training camp in the United Arab Emirates with a view to signing in January, but rules regarding non-European Union players was one stumbling block to the deal progressing.
It’s part of the reason why Djarum Group, predominantly a tobacco company that also operates in the media, technology, banking and beverage sectors, had to change its own plans for the club.
Ireland U21 winger Liam Kerrigan on target for Serie B side Como 1907 🇮🇹🎯
— Kenny's Kids (@KennysKids) July 17, 2022
So cool to see recent LOI players like Kerrigan (UCD to Como), Killian Phillips (Drogheda to Crystal Palace) and Darragh Burns (St Pat's to MK Dons) do so well for their clubs this week.#COYBIG pic.twitter.com/FoZ8Eqc2Ox
One of its subsidiaries, Mola TV (sadly not available in Ireland), is an Indonesian service which has over 1.5million subscribers, and the model was to bring through some of the country’s best youngsters as part of one of its reality shows ‘Dream Chasers: Garuda Select.’
That is where the link with Wise was first established, as he was a mentor for the team of Indonesian hopefuls who were coached by former England international Des Walker.
Wise has since become a key figure in Como, and Kerrigan is someone they view as being capable of helping to achieve promotion to Serie A.
They firmed up their interest when he impressed for the Ireland U21s against Italy in their European Championship qualifier on 14 June. His display against left back Fabiano Parisi, a regular with Empoli in the top flight and a target for Atalanta this summer, led to a three-year contract.
It’s an offer which provides the Sligo native with the kind of financial stability beyond the other interested parties’ capabilities.
More than that, it’s one that could provide him a platform to progress far quicker had he stayed closer to home, the feeling being he is capable of hitting the ground running in Italy and has the potential to put himself in a spotlight over the next 18 months that would have taken three to four years in Britain.
“Liamo is tuned in, he will relish the demands place on him and it would not be a surprise if, in a couple of years, he is being talked about seriously for the Ireland senior team,” UCD boss Andy Myler reckons.
Every top League of Ireland club were in the hunt for the right winger while a host of English and Scottish clubs also expressed more than a passing interest.
Lincoln City appeared to be in pole position before the end of the League One season when they rolled out the red carpet to Kerrigan and his father, Andy, as guests for the 3-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday on 5 March.
The night before he scored a consolation goal for UCD in a 4-2 defeat away to Drogheda United.
It was around that point, though, that he put his football future on the back-burner and concentrated on his upcoming exams.
Once completed in the middle of May, that is when Como stole a march on everyone as he began re-assessing his options.
Central to the decision was the Zoom call with former Chelsea captain Wise.
He had previously been made aware of the Sligo native’s abilities by ex-Waterford boss Marc Bircham, who now acts as a technical advisor to the club which is based less than an hour from Milan.
And once Kerrigan shone against Italy in Ascoli – in front of a Como delegation – Wise became more prominent, although he still had to answer plenty of questions from the player about what was expected of him.
That is not a surprise to hear at all,” Myler adds. “He has always taken ownership of his own game, plenty of players will find other excuses for why things don’t go their way in a match or training, Liamo is the opposite. He always looks at himself and what he can do.”
Kerrigan travelled to northern Italy and underwent a medical in the middle of last week and would have been unveiled sooner had international clearance not held up the announcement.
He linked up with his new teammates for a 19-day pre-season camp in Bormio, a town in Lombardy region of the Alps in the north of the country, and scored in his second appearance over the weekend.
A whirlwind experience that has materialised because of patience.
When he first signed up with his current agent five years ago it was made clear that education was pivotal and a move abroad was not on the agenda – it’s why he left Sligo Rovers to start his scholarship at UCD in 2019.
He had already made his debut in the Bit O’Red’s first team but once the chance to study commerce alongside side football presented itself it was an opportunity too good to turn down.
The days of taking calls about his playing career with his agent while on his break from his previous part-time job at Supervalu are also behind him.
With a degree secured and his extra gym work also paying off to make him more durable, football is now the sole priority.
It’s a dedication and ambition which was evident from the moment he was able to kick a football in his front garden at home in Tubbercurry in south Sligo.
Then, once his younger brother Sean arrived a little over a year later, he found a partner in crime.
“They would always be out together, whacking balls at each other,” former Sligo forward Raf Cretaro, who is also from the town, laughs.
“They live just beside the golf club and every time you’d pass the house they would be there together.”
Sean, who also came through the Sligo Rovers underage National League ranks before signing for Finn Harps, has since headed to the United States on a soccer scholarship to Mercyhurst University in Pennsylvania.
He just completed his Freshman year and in March was confirmed as a summer acquisition for the start of Ann Arbour’s USL League Two campaign.
Now it’s Liam’s turn to go on his own footballing adventure.