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Southampton: Obafemi’s new contract shows the potential that he has

By Marc Walker

HUDDERSFIELD, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 22: Michael Obafemi of Southampton celebrates after scoring his team's third goal during the Premier League match between Huddersfield Town and Southampton FC at John Smith's Stadium on December 22, 2018 in Huddersfield, United Kingdom. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
HUDDERSFIELD, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 22: Michael Obafemi of Southampton celebrates after scoring his team's third goal during the Premier League match between Huddersfield Town and Southampton FC at John Smith's Stadium on December 22, 2018 in Huddersfield, United Kingdom. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images) /
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Southampton tied youngster Michael Obafemi to the club yesterday after rewarding him with a new three-and-a-half-year contract.

The 18-year-old is another success story from the Saints academy after scoring regularly for the club’s Under-18s and Under-23s sides and has made his mark at first-team level this season.

It appears that manager Ralph Hasenhuttl sees real potential in Obafemi and he netted his first senior goal in the 3-1 win against Huddersfield back in December.

The pace that he possesses is a real threat for opposition defences and is also ideal for the high-pressing style that Hasenhuttl has implemented at the club.

Committing to a young player quite so much clearly signals the level of faith that the club are putting in Obafemi and that faith could well be repaid.

SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 01: Michael Obafemi of Southampton battles for the ball with Nemanja Matic of Manchester United during the Premier League match between Southampton FC and Manchester United at St Mary’s Stadium on December 01, 2018 in Southampton, United Kingdom. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 01: Michael Obafemi of Southampton battles for the ball with Nemanja Matic of Manchester United during the Premier League match between Southampton FC and Manchester United at St Mary’s Stadium on December 01, 2018 in Southampton, United Kingdom. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images) /

Next. Yan Valery's Saints season so far. dark

To have made an impact on senior football already is quite some feat for someone his age and he still has much more potential to meet because of that.

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Enough had been seen of the striker by former Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill to also award him his first call-up and first cap earlier this season too.

Since joining Saints from Leyton Orient back in 2016 to complete the final years of his academy football, Obafemi has gone on to score 20 times for the club’s youth teams.

It is quite clear that he has almost outgrown the academy level, but that may mean that he takes a little longer to adjust fully to the demands of the first-team.

Whilst he has shown exciting glimpses of what could be to come from him, he remains very raw and is certainly not the finished package just yet.

One thing is for sure though, and that is that his emergence in Ralph Hasenhuttl’s plans signals the new-found faith in the club’s youngsters.

Obafemi and players such as Yan Valery and Callum Slattery have shown that the pathway to the first-team is now open and that the future looks increasingly bright should Saints stay up this seaso