Southampton: Saints striker provides update on surgery for recent injury

Southampton striker Michael Obafemi has confirmed via Instagram that he has undergone successful surgery on a recent injury sustained in training.

A picture of the Saints man in a hospital bed accompanies a caption where the 20-year-old confirms a successful procedure, thanks fans for their messages of support and promises to be back playing soon.

An injury never comes at a good time for a footballer but Obafemi’s one potentially ruled out the chance of regular game time through a loan deal in the Championship.

He was heavily linked with a switch to Swansea City in this January transfer window and Stoke City were also said to be interested in securing his services on a temporary deal.

However, he will now be undergoing a recovery programme to enable him to get back to action as soon as possible for Saints.

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Obafemi has had just 19 minutes of first-team football in the 2020/21 season so far with fellow strikers Danny Ings, Che Adams and Theo Walcott seemingly well ahead of him in the pecking order.

His pace has been a factor in Ralph Hasenhuttl keeping him as one of six options to take the two striker roles in his current setup but frustrating injury problems have held him back.

He broke into the Saints senior group back in 2017/18 and made his debut in a 1-1 draw with Spurs. Hasenhuttl’s arrival saw him gain much more game time though and he became the club’s youngest ever goalscorer in the Premier League when he netted against Huddersfield Town aged just 18 years and 169 days old.

Overall he has 35 first-team appearances now and has contributed five goals and four assists in that time.

He has also worked his way into contention for his country and made his Republic of Ireland debut in November 2018 before dropping back to the Under-21s more recently.

What he would really benefit from is a loan spell though. This is more likely to come in the summer transfer window now but time remains on his side.