STEPHEN KENNY praised the “tremendous commitment” of Mason Melia’s family during his St Patrick’s Athletic rise.
The 17-year-old has agreed a record-breaking move to Tottenham Hotspur for January 2026.
The fee is believed to be in the region of just under €2 million, and could rise to as much as €4.2 million.
It is recognition for his star-making rise at Richmond Park, with the Wicklow kid being the club’s youngest ever debutant at 15.
He has made 41 appearances in all competitions for Stephen Kenny’s men, scoring seven goals in that time.
Speaking to Morning Ireland, the former Ireland gaffer credited his ascent to his family, revealing his mum Pamela would go the extra mile.
He explained: “We’ve a full-time environment at St Patrick’s. His mother Pamela drives him up to Dublin every morning.
“We often have double sessions and she spends the day there to bring him home. It’s tremendous commitment from his family.
“He’s been an important player for St Pat’s in qualifying for Europe.
“We’re looking forward to the season ahead and no doubt he’ll play his part in the team.
“From our point of view, he just has to continue to enjoy his football. He doesn’t need any undue pressure.”
The Newtownmountkennedy teenager was the subject of a host of offers across Europe.
The Wicklow striker opted for Spurs while there was also interest from Everton, Chelsea, Celtic, Bologna and Hannover 96 amongst others.
Melia is represented by former Ireland star Clive Clarke – who is also his uncle.
And he revealed his nephew turned down up to 60 offers out of his desire to move to North London.
Appearing on Oliver Callan on RTÉ Radio 1, he revealed: “It’s through Mason’s hard work that it has been able to happen.
“He went over to Spurs three years ago [to visit], it’s a club he thinks very fondly of. We probably had 50 or 60 offers throughout Europe.
“The likes of Celtic have come really strongly and pushed really hard for him.
“You can only pick one club and he chose Spurs. We decided to make it happen and it’s all done now.
“This is something for the last four or five years with Mason that we’ve been building up to this moment.
“We know he is a very talented boy.
“It has been great working with St Pat’s and Mason in trying to break the transfer record, which is what we all set out to do from probably this time last year because we felt we had a player of certain ability.”
