Coming Home

A week into the July transfer window and it’s still all quiet on the Waterford front. Ronan Mansfield is a welcome addition to the first team squad, but Friday night’s catastrophe at the Brandywell has sharpened everyone’s awareness of the need for reinforcements. That goes for the management and ownership as much as for fans and it seems safe to expect the ‘new signing scarf’ to be taken out of the cupboard in the coming days.

One local player coming home is youth international Muhammad Oladiti. He has signed for Waterford this week having spent the last three years in Shamrock Rovers’ academy. Normally a defensive midfielder, he has been utilised more often as a right back by both Rovers and Ireland in recent times. Despite him only turning 17 in March, I would expect that ‘Mo’ would be a serious option for the first team very quickly. His physique and strength are far above his age grade and his signing is very definitely with senior football in mind. 

My information is that he will train with both the first team and the Under 20s. Manager John Coleman has been paying close attention to the academy and has made it clear how he wants players to progress. Ironically, that attention to detail is one of the benefits of a ‘foreign’ manager based in Waterford rather than one commuting to and from Dublin like his predecessor Keith Long. Academy teams are being monitored more closely and that has seen Jesse Dempsey and Sean Keane given their opportunity in recent weeks. 

Oladiti has suffered from a hamstring injury that has curtailed his time on the pitch this season, but nothing too serious. His last appearance for the Hoops’ Under 20s came at the end of May in a 2-1 cup loss away to Cobh Ramblers where Waterfordman Mikey Carroll scored a late winner. The injury also meant Mo missed out on a call-up to the last Republic of Ireland Under 17s camp, but he will most certainly return to international duty once he has recovered fully.

 

Muhammad Oladiti representing Ireland at Under 17s level

The former De La Salle student was a clear standout in schoolboy football for Southend United and the Waterford development squad. He was a major factor in driving the Waterford league to the Kennedy Cup final in 2022 with his composure, strength and range of skills. Originally an attacking midfielder with Southend, he became more of a midfield general in his teens and is now equally comfortable as a right back.

A heavily-scouted prospect, Muhammad had countless clubs keen to sign him back in 2022. Shamrock Rovers, led by then-academy director Shane Robinson, offered a package which included private schooling in the exclusive Ashfield College and great efforts to look after his schoolboy club. Waterford’s approach, which came from the previous ownership’s General Manager, was very different. Rovers won out and the 14-year-old moved to Dublin to live with family members once the Kennedy Cup was completed. 

He has spent the last three years in the Roadstone academy playing with the likes of Cory O’Sullivan, Victor Ozhianvuna and Max Kovalevskis who have progressed to the first team. This season, he has been with the Under 20s under the guidance of Tony Cousins, the ex-Galway United and Longford Town first team manager. 

On the international front, Oladiti has been a key figure and regular starter from Under 15s through to 17s. One notable moment that showed his trademark coolness came in the Victory Shield away to Wales in November 2023. Ireland’s Under 16s were awarded three penalties and current Rovers sensation Michael Noonan (then of St Pat’s) scored the first and missed the second. With the tie balanced at 2-2 in stoppage time, a third spot-kick was awarded and Muhammad stepped up, unflappable in the hostile atmosphere, to slam home and win the tournament for Paul Osam’s Boys in Green. 

 

John Coleman with cup-winning manager Tommy Jackson at the Johnny Matthews Memorial Golf Classic

 

While very talented and a great signing, the 17-year-old will not satiate fans’ appetite for strengthening the first team. There’s no doubt that the first week of the transfer window was disappointingly quiet. Those players that were seen around the RSC in recent weeks, and reported by some outlets as signed, were only trialists and the manager didn’t feel they were better than the players already in the squad. John Coleman did make an effort to sign his former captain Seamus Conneely, but the veteran midfielder has chosen to sign up for one more season at Accrington Stanley. 

In his post-match interview with LOITV in Derry on Friday. Coleman said “it might be that the reinforcements that I think are necessary might have to be rushed through and there might have to be more of them.” My understanding is that there are four new players in training this week – whether on trial or already signed remains to be seen. I believe there is a tall centre back, powerful striker and two midfielders here since yesterday and involved in a trial game at SETU Arena tonight. I don’t expect them to be ‘big names’, but many of Waterford’s best players in recent years were unknown in Ireland until their arrival. 

It is a difficult transfer to negotiate even if the desire and the resources are there to bring in talent. The club are understandably keen to move some big earners who have failed to produce for various reasons, but larger contracts can make that tougher to achieve. However, the consensus is that there is money available to back the manager with signings and that everyone at the club is on the same page about what is required. With just thirteen league games remaining, the clock is ticking.