Shandon Baptiste was Oxford’s hero the last time they came up against Premier League opposition in the Carabao Cup back in September, capping off a man-of-the-match display with a injury-time goal in the 4-0 thrashing of West Ham.
Baptiste says himself that was his ‘best performance as a professional’, running the show in the middle of the park with Jack Wilshere and Carlos Sanchez both coming out second best.
He believes he has ‘put his name back out there’ after a number of injury setbacks, but in truth he’s never been short of admirers.
talkSPORT.com understands that Premier League trio Newcastle, Bournemouth and Southampton are closely monitoring the youngster.
There is also interest in his services from the Championship, most notably from Derby, West Brom and Brentford.
The U’s face reigning Premier League champions Manchester City – live on the talkSPORT App – in the quarter-finals, and they’re a side all too familiar to Baptiste as he captained Oxford for the first time against Pep Guardiola’s men in the same competition last season.
Baptiste, now 21, was a breakthrough star at the start of last season, before the talented midfielder’s rise was cut short by injury last October – a recurrent theme in his fledging career to date.
Surgery on a dislocated shoulder saw him then sidelined then for more than two months, only for him to rupture an anterior cruciate ligament ten minutes into his first-team return.
Baptiste had come on as a substitute for Karl Robinson’s side in the closing stages of an FA Cup third round tie at Brentford in January before suffering the devastating blow.
Ironically, prior to that fixture talkSPORT can reveal a move had been agreed, in principle, for Baptiste to join the Bees, only for the deal to be scuppered owing to the severity of the injury.
After nearly eight months out Baptiste was back in action for Oxford at the end of August in a Carabao Cup tie against Millwall.
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After featuring regularly for the U’s in the immediate months after that a groin injury then ruled him out for the entirety of November, with Baptiste making a timely return in a 1-0 defeat against MK Dons at the weekend.
So, how has the former Reading trainee dealt with these constant setbacks, particularly the cruciate ligament injury, with his stop-start professional career still very much in its infancy stages.
“I was pretty down for a good week after, I can’t lie,” he told talkSPORT.com.
“But I thought after that period I knew I needed to pick myself up and go again. Feeling sorry for myself wasn’t going to help the situation.
“From getting injured in October and then coming back and getting injured a matter of minutes upon my return was just unbelievable, really. I couldn’t believe it.
“I remember the gaffer in the changing rooms afterwards [against Brentford] and he was emotional himself, as he knew how hard I had worked to get back to full fitness.
“It was a massive blow for me, but I’m a young lad who has hopefully got many years left in the game, so there’s plenty of time for me to really kick on.
“To be successful in football you have to have a strong mentality and I believe I’ve demonstrated that over the last year.”
And what about that Brentford deal? That must have been a big blow, the opportunity to play in a higher division for a side who are widely recognised as developers of young talent?
“At the time my agent said it was one that was close to getting done. It was obviously tough to take, but I didn’t really think about that too much,” he revealed.
“Yeah I’ve heard a few things, but I’m not focusing on any other clubs because at the end of the day if you’re not playing regularly then no big team is going to be seriously looking at you.
“I’ve got to concentrate on playing week in week out for this football club and give my absolute all for Oxford.
“The fans and the manager here have been great with me and I intend to repay them with more performances like the one I produced against West Ham.”
Baptiste is a quiet and humble character, but one thing he doesn’t lack is self belief. Back in October he turned down a call-up to the Grenada squad for the double-headers against French Guiana and St Kitts & Nevis.
For now, he has made himself unavailable for The Spice Boys, as he concentrates solely on his club career for the time being.
“It was a big decision for me to make, and one some people might look at and find strange or take the wrong way as I’m playing in League One at this time,” he admitted.
“I got a lot of people’s advice about at the time, and in the end I felt it was the right thing to just step away from Grenada and give it a year or two just to see where I am in terms of my career then.
“They were obviously disappointed [Grenada], but they understood my decision and why I had made it.
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“At the end of the day I believe I will be playing at a higher level sooner rather than later. If I reach my full potential I have confidence in myself that I could play for England.
“You have to show ambition in life and at the end of the day I’m only 21, why not aim high? Yeah, it might not work out that way, but it won’t be for the want of trying – that’s for sure.”
Baptiste has an unwavering belief in his own ability and a very unique playing style. This young man isn’t your ordinary third-tier footballer.
He is a box-to-box no.8, with an uncanny knack of breaking away with the ball in midfield, complementing his talents as a fine dribbler.
His own manager has already labelled him a ‘multi-million pound player’ and ‘one of the most prized assets outside of the top flight’. Watch this space with interest.
You can listen to Oxford United vs Man City in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals live on the talkSPORT App from 7:45 on Wednesday, December 18