IT SHOULD have been a bad day in the life of Ronnie O'Brien. Released by Middlesbrough on February 12th, he was supposed to collect his final cheque, say his goodbyes, skulk out the gate and tip-toe into an uncertain future. Instead, a couple of weeks later and just over a month after his 20th birthday, O'Brien has completed the most extraordinary deal of this or any other season after flying to Turin, shaking hands with the great Roberto Bettega and signing a five-year contract with Juventus. Even by Middlesbrough's Italian standards this has been an unusual episode.
Fortunate to have an agent with the tightest of Italian connections, O'Brien's career has been turned downside-up so that now he is spending his days keeping fit in his home town of Bray in preparation for July, when he finalises his move from Pontin's League to Serie A.
It means he will be the first player from these isles to play for Juventus since David Platt and, after Liam Brady, only the second Irishman to play in Italy. O'Brien and Sampdoria's Lee Sharpe will be the only footballers from Britain or Ireland learning Italian for other than recreational reasons.
All of this could faze your average young man, but Ronnie O'Brien is not that. "If that is what you have arranged," he told his agent Steve Kutner on hearing of the deal, "then that is what you have arranged." Though he did add: "Of course, when he first said Italy I thought he meant lower down. I didn't think I'd be joining Juventus." Nor did anyone else.
When English clubs let such players go it is generally accepted as a case of unfulfilled potential.
It was only when Bryan Robson delivered his uncomplimentary opinion that it seems there might be something more to Ronnie O'Brien. Responding to a parting jibe of "Robson doesn't like young players", the Middlesbrough boss said: "Ronnie's not good enough, but I wish him well. If kids are good enough I like them."
In such situations rumours mushroom. Generally money is thought to be involved, then there are queries over personalities, and in this case teenage temperament. All such questions were asked, although O'Brien emphatically quashed financial suggestions.
That leaves two other possibilities; both, it seems, have more than an element of truth. Firstly, prosaically, Robson does not rate him, at least not anymore. It was a different situation a couple of years ago when O'Brien first went to Middlesbrough for a trial, one in which Robson played. It took place on a Tuesday morning and by the time O'Brien left on the Thursday evening, he had an offer of a professional contract. The club clearly liked the first impression, and O'Brien liked the club. He signed a two-year contract shortly afterwards and when a few weeks later he was named the Irish under-18 Young Player of the Year it seemed Middlesbrough's judgment had been verified.
A right-sided midfielder-cum-winger, O'Brien moved between midfield and attack at Middlesbrough, but crucially, not between the reserves and the first team. Disenchantment with O'Brien's willingness to speak his mind, another factor in the whole equation, resulted in a few "in and outs" with Robson and the other coaches. After an hour of his company it is easy to see how O'Brien could upset his elders. That is not to say he is arrogant. He is rather, as his mother says, "a charmer". He insists he is not bitter, but it is easy to imagine him speaking out before his peers. He denies that.
Yet last summer when the Republic were becoming under-18 European champions, O'Brien watched the final from the bench following a verbal altercation with the manager Brian Kerr. "If I'm not getting where I should be, where I think I should be, then I'd say so," he said. "But I'd not be rude about it." Of course not.
It would be understandable if Kerr was not O'Brien's biggest fan - and yesterday he left him out of the under-20 squad for the junior World Cup in Nigeria - yet Kerr said of the Juventus move: "Ronnie may just have the game for the continent, he'd have the skill and the pace that would really impress the Italians.
"He has good control and that bit of dash, and when the flicking session starts on the training ground, Ronnie will be well able for them. His performances will improve if his confidence grows. When he's buzzing, he's a cheeky little winger who can cause real danger.' Having seen O'Brien on video, Juve are aware of this. They also have the recommendation of his agent Kutner and Paul Merson.
Kutner was the link between Bray and Turin and said we would be surprised by the amount of time he spends watching young footballers in England on behalf of Italian clubs. Generally they are over-priced but O'Brien was free and relatively cheap - if an estimated £3,000 to £4,000 per week is cheap. The length of the contract, five years, is standard according to Kutner.
They sealed the deal with Bettega over spaghetti in Turin, though O'Brien does not join up until July and has given up McDonalds "for Lent" to try and stay in shape. Being too old for the Primavera, the youth system, and with no reserve team football in Italy, he will be training with Zinedine Zidane from the off. He expects to be sent on loan quickly but hopes "in a couple of years" to be given an opportunity.
"If I'd been promised a chance I would have stayed at Middlesbrough," he said. "But I've signed for a club Bryan Robson never signed for and hopefully I can prove him wrong. Even if I don't, I'll take the picture from the team photo call, get it signed and frame it. That'll do me. Not many have that."
He is not wrong, though just in case O'Brien had left the notion that he would be happy with a snapshot, as he walked towards the Bray seafront, he turned and warned with a smile: "My time will come."
