GAVIN Bazunu’s remarkable ascent to becoming Ireland’s number one goalkeeper is down to him going out on loan rather than sitting on Manchester City’s bench every week and playing second fiddle to Ederson.
With only six senior caps to his name, the on-loan Portsmouth ‘keeper has been the stand-out player during Stephen Kenny’s reign and is planning to build on his growing reputation in Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan in Baku.
The fact there has been no clamour to see the more experienced Darren Randolph restored to the squad illustrates just how impressive the 19-year-old has been since assuming the goalkeeper’s jersey.
If saving Cristiano Ronaldo’s spot-kick in last month’s qualifier against Portugal wasn’t enough, the former Shamrock Rovers man produced a stunning display in Ireland’s 1-1 draw with Serbia in Dublin a few days later.
Bazunu agreed to a loan move to Rochdale last year and is now with Portsmouth having played 900 minutes for the League One club already this season.
“My opinion was always game-time,” Bazunu said at yesterday’s in-person press conference at the FAI headquarters in Abbotstown.
“That was most important and it's why I went on loan to Rochdale and now Portsmouth. I'm 100 per cent sure that I wouldn't be anywhere near the position I am now without having that backing of games and having that experience and this confidence, just because of the amount of games that I've got under my belt. For me, playing games is the most important thing.”
With fewer Irish players being able to breach the English Premier League ranks, Bazunu added: “It can be difficult for some players to be in the Premier League and struggling a bit whereas some players are in the Championship are really thriving.
“At the end of the day it's down to those players and if they believe they are good enough to step up and play in the Premier League, all credit to them. My personal opinion is that you should always try and play at the highest level you can.”
Although he denied Ronaldo from the penalty spot in Faro last month, the legendary striker beat Bazunu with two amazing late headers.
The penalty save will go down as one of Bazunu's greatest moments.
“Before every game I look at penalty takers and I spoke to Dean Kiely [Ireland’s goalkeeping coach] before the game whether it was Ronaldo or [Bruno] Fernandes who was going to take it, the different run-ups that they might have and what side I was going to go to depending on his run-up. I stuck to my gut and I was able to make the save, which was brilliant.
“The most important thing after that game was to back it up. Because at that moment, as much as it is special, it doesn’t mean anything if you can’t go and put in some performances at your club, so that was what I was most focused on and I was happy that I’ve been able to perform quite well in my recent games.”
The Republic of Ireland’s World Cup hopes are virtually extinguished having lost and drawn to Luxembourg and Azerbaijan, respectively in Group A while also losing narrowly in Serbia and Portugal.
But Bazunu remains optimistic about the future under Kenny despite the side recording just one win in 16 attempts – a 4-1 friendly win over Andorra.
“I see massive progress over the last few games and I see where we're going as a group and I feel that's what a lot of the other players think.
“They can see the progress we're making with a lot of the young lads coming through and how brave we are in terms of playing and we've just not got rewarded for that.
“But I'm sure if we continue to play how we have played and if we continue to build on what we've done, the results will come.
“Look at the recent games we've played, look at the game against Portugal, the game against Serbia, look at the amount of young players that have been integrated into the squad.”
