Southampton: Saints striker Obafemi called up by Ireland
By Marc Walker
Southampton striker Michael Obafemi has been called up to the provisional Republic of Ireland squad for two upcoming senior international games.
Fixtures against Northern Ireland and Denmark are upcoming for Ireland and the youngster has been given an opportunity to impress and potentially be further involved in plans going forward.
This step up sees the 18-year-old jump from Under-19s level to Martin O’Neill’s squad without yet representing the Under-23s.
If Obafemi does receive a full call-up once the final squad is announced, he will join up with club mate Shane Long who is one of the side’s main attackers.
He made his second appearance for the Saints first-team on Saturday during their 6-1 defeat to Manchester City and provided a positive from an otherwise negative afternoon after coming on as a substitute in the 73rd minute.
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The home game against Spurs last season gave him his first opportunity following a striker injury crisis for then Saints boss Mauricio Pellegrino to contend with.
Obafemi is certainly a player with great potential and he has been able to score on a regular basis for the Saints Under-18s and Under-23s since joining the club from Leyton Orient’s youth academy.
To date he has 20 appearances and 8 goals for Radhi Jaidi’s Under-23s, whilst a further 12 goals have come in 32 matches at Under-18s level.
Mark Hughes has spoken about how he has been impressed with Obafemi’s development adn noted his pace as the key attribute that makes him such as talent.
With the current Saints senior strikers continuing to misfire, there is certainly no reason why he can’t push himself into the long-term plans of the club.
However, youth products have found it difficult to hold down a first-team place in recent seasons and this led to players such as Harrison Reed, Sam McQueen and Jake Hesketh finding loan moves away from the club in the summer.