St Patrick's Athletic manager Stephen Kenny acknowledged the "symbolism" of Mason Melia becoming the League of Ireland's first ever million euro player but was sceptical that the move would open the floodgates on similar big-money transfers.
The 17-year old's deal with Tottenham Hotspur was a dominant topic of conversation at the 2025 League of Ireland launch at the Mansion House in Dublin, with most of Kenny's discussions with the media consumed with the news.
The initial deal is worth £1.5m (€1.8m), possibly rising to £3.5m (€4.2m) with a 20% sell on.
The transfer was partly made possible by the post-Brexit dispensation, in which Irish players are unable to sign for UK clubs until they turn 18. And Kenny pointed out that prior to 2020, a player of Melia's potential would have been in England from the age of 16, making comparisons with talented Irish youngsters of the past tricky.
"It's unusual because it's difficult to compare. In other eras, the real elite, elite centre-forward of the international team (standard) would probably be in England at 16," says Kenny.
"Obviously, the advent of Brexit has changed that somewhat. It’s a bit unusual to have a 16-year-old centre-forward leading the line in Azerbaijan (against Sabah), and in Istanbul against experienced international defenders and doing well.
"That’s what marked him out, the fact he had the capacity to do that."
While the signing was greeted as something of a breakthrough, Kenny argued it would not be easily replicable given Irish football's infrastructural deficits and stressed that Melia was a "unique" player.
"I am personally not hung up on the fee but I get the big picture and the symbolism of that. But certainly, it is interesting because we are in our infancy since Brexit with our young players.
"A lot of the players that came into the international team that you are fed up of me mentioning, 90% of them went to England at 16.
"That's not possible anymore, so how is the gap going to be filled? How are the players going to develop in that period?
"It wasn't always a successful (model), don't forget, because we had that barren decade when not many players came through.
"There is a way for players to come through, like Mason playing in [an LOI] first team. But he is a unique player.
"Not many squads in the Premier Division are going to have too many 16-year-olds in the first team. That's not happening unless you have a developmental side.
"Is the Under-20 league at a level (required)?" Kenny says, with some scepticism. "The pitches are not great. I've been at some of the matches. Not great facilities.
"It does need creative thinking, I am not sure there is enough of it.
"In relation to how we fill that gap... We've taken four players from our Under-20s and sent them on loan to First Division clubs. We have one at Bray, one at Wexford, at Finn Harps and one at Dundalk. We have taken that approach. So it is an issue as regards how players develop."
With Kenny dubious that the U20 Premier Division is an effective launchpad or developmental arena for young Irish players, he argues it's only first team experience - especially in Europe - that saw Melia properly turn the heads of Premier League clubs.
"The reason Mason was signed was because he played against Istanbul Basaksehir and international centre-halves and gave them a torrid night in Tallaght. And because he has gone away in Azerbaijan and looked absolutely at home.
"We shouldn't think it is an inevitability. When you see players at that level, Europa League level, you see that quality. Then the chief scouts and the directors of football at clubs look and see that there are very few 16-year-olds in Europe playing at that level.
"You can go to Belgium and France and see there are some 16 and 17-year-olds playing, but they have been full-time in their system since 14 or 15 - doing two or three nights a week."
While the English game is closed off to Melia until he legally becomes an adult, he has been free to travel to the continent both this year and last.
Kenny confirms there was no shortage of continental clubs interested but that the player was happy to hold off on leaving until the offer came from across the Irish Sea.
"There was a lot of interest over the past year, and even before I was here, there was a lot from the continent.
"But he seemed single-minded as to what he wanted, and he was prepared to wait.
"But you can never be sure from his point of view. (There are) so many great players from all over the world that you are competing with.
"At 16, they (Premier League clubs) are pulling players in from South America and parts of Asia, so you can never be sure. But he has done very well."
The Pat's manager confirmed that the deal specified no restrictions or conditions on how he was to use Melia in the 2025 season.
"There’s no criteria or anything. We’ll just look forward to utilising him now. He’s only back training because he had a back issue, we had to give him a breather. He’s not been in full pre-season.
"He wants to be successful this season, he’s got a very grounded family background, obviously coming from Newtownmountkennedy.
"His mother Pamela drives him to training every morning and she has to find other things to do during the day and wait for him, really.
"He could be in for a double session. He could be in for 9am or 9.30 and then finish late.
"He’ll get back late Friday after a match and we’d have a recovery session on Saturday morning somewhere. That’s a drive from Newtown and back down and it’s never an issue.
"He always takes everything in his stride, never complains, gets on with stuff and works hard. He’s a hard working young man, a little bit old-school like that."
