Stoke City defender staking claim for next season with eye-catching loan
Highly-rated Republic of Ireland youth defender David Okagbue helps Walsall into the League Two play-off places
David Okagbue was on the scoresheet in a huge win for Walsall that lifts the team into the League Two play-off spots.
The 20-year-old Stoke City centre-back scored his first goal in the EFL to help see off Accrington Stanley 2-1 in what is proving to be an eye-catching loan spell. Okagbue has always been highly-rated as he comes through the academy at Stoke – big, quick and strong – and he was around the first team through pre-season before being sent out in the next stage of his development.
The Republic of Ireland youth had joined Stoke from St Kevin’s Boys Club in Dublin, where he played alongside Brighton star Evan Ferguson in a junior side that had fixtures against Manchester United, Marseille, Barcelona and, critically in this case, Stoke.
St Kevin’s stalwart Karl Lamb explained to the Express & Star: “The big one for Dave was when we played in a tournament in Oakham.
we happened to play against Stoke and David was brilliant that day. He ultimately got invited on a trial to Stoke off the back of that tournament. Stoke signed him almost immediately and the rest was history. That was his big break. If he hadn’t played well during that Oakham tournament then he could still be here today because he really did go under the radar.”
Okagbue has previously had loan spells with Chester and Oldham Athletic but this one in particular seems to have been a springboard., even if he has had to overcome injuries to gradually make his mark
