The mystery Celtic triallist and ex-Southampton man who answered Portsmouth's striker SOS - and now flourishing with Irish table toppers

Now Jonathan Afolabi has finally found regular first-team football – and is spearheading Bohemians’ title charge.

It was last summer when Danny Cowley briefly turned to the Celtic man and former Dundee, Ayr and Airdrieonians loanee, having been left without a single contracted senior forward on his books.

The Republic of Ireland under-21 international represented an emergency option for July’s week-long pre-season training camp in Murcia, Spain, with Afolabi flying in from Manchester to link-up with the team.

Although contracted with the Scottish giants, the Blues were aware the then 22-year-old was available on a permanent deal should he sufficiently impress.

As a consequence, Cowley was keen to keep the youngster’s presence under wraps, requesting his identity – and photograph – was not published by either club media or The News.

Unfortunately, the bid to ensure Afolabi remained under the radar ran into a little difficulty when he opened the scoring in a 2-0 friendly success over Qatar SC.

Appearing as a 61st-minute substitute for Ronan Curtis at the Pinatar Arena Football Center, he finished off Jay Mingi’s pass to break the deadlock, with Alfie Bridgman later grabbing the other.

With around 200 travelling Pompey fans also present, no longer was it possible to withhold the forward’s identity, not that it mattered.

At the end of their Spanish stay, Pompey and Afolabi caught separate flights – and both parties headed in different directions.

Within days, Pigott arrived on loan from Ipswich, followed by the £500,000 purchase of Bishop and then a loan switch for Spurs’ Scarlett.

While Cowley now had his full quota of strikers, Afolabi instead joined League of Ireland Premier Division club Bohemians on a free transfer in August, midway through their season.

The former Southampton youngster scored on his fourth outing, in a 2-0 win at Lucan United in the FAI Cup, yet it proved to be his last appearance of the campaign.

The striker tore a quad muscle while shooting over the bar on 57 minutes, ending his night and also ruling him out for the final 11 matches.

In his absence, Bohemians finished sixth upon the season’s conclusion at the start of November.

Now back to full fitness, Afolabi is enjoying himself in the 2023 campaign, starting all seven of their league matches so far this term, winning six of them.

His sole goal arrived in a 2-0 victory at St Patrick’s last month, while the Bohs are presently three points clear at the top of the table.

And the striker Pompey opted to buy rather than turn Afolabi’s spell into a permanent arrangement?

Colby Bishop – three years his senior – has 23 goals to date and is likely to attract transfer interest from the Championship this summer.