'Festy Ebosele can be a superstar' - Introducing the Irish youngster Wayne Rooney has tipped for the top

He had benefited more than most from Rooney's transition from captain to manager at Pride Park, featuring regularly in a side that launched a brave but ultimately futile bid to avoid relegation to League One in 2021-22. Indeed, had the club not been docked a total of 21 points for entering into administration and financial irregularities, they would have easily beat the drop.

Ebosele had enjoyed his time under Rooney's tutelage enormously. "I really liked him as a manager; I think he's going to have a great career in coaching," he says. "Because he helped me progress so much, particularly confidence-wise.

"He told me, 'Listen, you're a good player, go express yourself. If you lose the ball, just work hard to get it back.' He just really believed in me. He gave me a lot of appearances and a lot of starts, so I'm very grateful to him for everything he did for me."

Relegation, though, changed everything. Rooney resigned in June 2022, but, by that stage, Ebosele had already agreed to join Udinese, much to his mentor's dismay.

"Festy can be a superstar," Rooney told The Derby Telegraph. "He just needs to keep his focus, his concentration, and keep learning to develop. But just by sheer pace and power alone, he has got something which every player wants. The next part of that is the details, the little aspects of his game, which I talk about after matches. If he gets them right, he can go right to the top.

"But if you are asking me if I think [Udinese] is the right move for him, then no, I don't. I think he should stay in England... It is always difficult for a young player to go abroad."

Certainly, attempting the jump from the Championship to Serie A represented a serious risk for the then-teenager. But Ebosele was excited by the prospect of testing himself in Italy's top flight.

There had been offers from other English clubs, but he felt Udinese were too good to turn down. And Alexis Sanchez played a part in his thinking.

"He was my favourite player at Arsenal growing up and I knew that he'd played over here," he reveals. "And Bruno Fernandes was here for a while, too. So, I knew that they were a great club for developing players and then selling them on. I just really thought it would be the best move for me. And, I have to say, I am happy with how it's gone. I'd like to think I've improved a lot as a player, particularly in terms of my decision-making and my defending."

It was far from straightforward, though. Ebosele spent the majority of the first half of the season warming the bench at the Dacia Arena. "I'd been playing in England for basically all of my professional career - I didn't know anything else," he explains. "I didn't know what it would be like to play on the continent and maybe I was half-thinking, 'Okay, I'll move there and it'll be the exact same. Football is football, at the end of the day.' I kind of presumed, maybe a bit naively, that it would take me a few weeks to get up to speed.

"So, to tell the truth, I didn't expect it to take so long. But, even at the start, I was thinking, 'Right, it's tough, but I've got a long contract here. No matter what happens I've got plenty of time to adapt.' I think that helped and, in the end, it probably took six months for me to settle, which is not too bad. But I never let it stress me too much."

Ebosele wasn't dissuaded by those who warned him about the threat of racial abuse in Italy. "I never experienced any racism in Ireland while playing football," he says. "I was never the only black player on the team, and I think that in itself probably shows you how things have changed at home in recent years.

"I obviously got told before I came to Italy, though, that some parts of the country, or maybe some fans at certain clubs, could be racist. But I've been here a year now and I've not experienced anything, either on or off the field. And particularly in Udine, when we're out and about, the fans are fantastic. They love all the players, no matter their skin colour or the background.

"But when I see the racist abuse suffered by the likes of [Romelu] Lukaku here in Italy, or Vinicius Junior in Spain, I actually struggle to get my head around it, not having gone through it myself. I just don't understand the mentality of these fans. It just seems to be total ignorance, because I don't even think they fully get it either. It just seems to be the way they are, that when they're hurting, like when their team is not winning, they lash out at what they think is the easiest target. So, it's just sad and, honestly, I don't know how you solve racism in society as a whole. All I can do, really, is my job: playing football."

Which he's proving himself quite good at.

After making his Udinese debut as a late substitute in the opening-weekend loss to AC Milan at San Siro last August, and announcing himself to Italian audiences by promptly picking up a yellow card, he saw just one more minute of Serie A action by the turn of the year.

However, Ebosele began to see more game time off the bench in January and February, before making 11 consecutive appearances at the tail end of a campaign that was cut short by an injury that ruled him out of Udinese's final two games.

Improving his Italian certainly helped. "I can understand the coach now," he quips. And Andrea Sottil has had nothing but nice things to say about Ebosele in recent weeks, even going so far as to label the Irishman "the future of this team".

It's easy to understand why the Italian is such a fan. Obviously, there's the pace and the power. Ebosele may not be the tallest but he's 5'11 (180cm) and built like his childhood idol Adama Traore. "He's like The Terminator," team-mate Kingsley Ehizibue tells GOAL. "I don't know what you guys are eating in Ireland - but I want some!"

Then, there's the versatility, which is always a dream for any manager. Ebosele started out as a midfielder, but had moved out onto the wing by the time he joined Frank Lampard's Derby in 2018. However, he's since developed into a wing-back, one capable of playing on either side.

"When I was playing under-age football at Derby, I kept taking up defensive positions, or coming back to help out, and my manager asked me why," he explains. "I just kind of said that I enjoy making tackles and getting stuck in, so he said, 'I can put you in defence for one game and see how it goes.' And I was like, '100 percent, why not?!' And it went well. I had a good game, I liked it, so I ended up becoming an option at right-back too, as well as on either wing. I've a few positions now!"

He feels just as comfortable off the field now, too. The presence of another under-age Irish star, James Abankwah, has undoubtedly helped him settle in Udine, with the pair quickly becoming good friends with Ehizibue and others.

"There are a lot of English-speakers. Actually, do you know what? I think it's only the coach and two other lads who are Italian!" he says, laughing. "We've got Brazilians, Argentinians, Turkish - so it's a real mix, and everyone gets on great, so that makes it easier."

But Ebosele also says his Italian has "come a long way over the last little while" and just feels more at home in Udine in general. Not that he's forgotten his roots, of course. His bond with his homeland remains as strong as ever, as underlined by the fact that he recently sponsored a set of shirts for his childhood club Moyne Rovers, whom he says "will always have a place in my heart".

Furthermore, one of his next objectives is to make his debut for the Irish national team, having already represented his country at nearly every level up to Under-21. "I've had some conversations with the gaffer (Steven Kenny)," he reveals. "He says he likes me as a player and that I just need to continue playing well. So, hopefully my chance will come."

In fairness, it only feels like a matter of time, particularly if he continues on his current trajectory. "Last season went well, but I'd like next season to go even better," he says. "I want to get back fit, hit the ground running in pre-season well and hopefully nail down a starting spot."

It won't be easy, of course. But Festy Ebosele is fearless and loves a good challenge. Wayne Rooney can vouch for that.