Given that he hasn’t kicked a ball for his club in two months – largely due to a sulk of his own creation – Michael Obafemi’s had a lot of time on his hands of late.
he last 24 hours were busy though after all that time off, as the Ireland striker and his entourage made the 400km trip from his base in Wales up to Lancashire to complete the formalities of his move to Burnley from Swansea City.
But before that he had time to reflect as last Saturday was an important date in his sporting career: five years to the day since he made his Premier League debut for Southampton.
The intervening five years have not been entirely wasted, as Obafemi clearly is a player of talent; otherwise a manager like Vincent Kompany would not have signed him.
He also emerged from the shadows with the Ireland team as his cameo last summer in the Nations League proved what a player he can be.
But the problem is that Obafemi has been all about cameos, and not those meaty roles, since his emergence.
The player, and his attitude, have been questioned more than any other Irish footballer of his age, with a string of frustrated club bosses noting his attitude and professionalism. And not in a good way.
As his club career threatened time and again to stagnate and even go into a permanent decline, his Ireland prospects also dimmed, again more down to attitude than ability.
When he turned down an Ireland U-21 call-up last year in the words of U-21 boss Jim Crawford, Obafemi “saw himself as a senior international” it led to another debate about a young player’s true commitment to the cause.
Communication was initially an issue, although Crawford then said that Oabfemi got in contact.
He’s now 22 and has not pushed on anywhere near as much as he should have since his breakthrough year of 2018, when he made his debut as a Premier League player and a senior international.
Those warning signs flashed again and again. In November 2019, just after he ticked the box of his first Premier League start, his then manager at Southampton Ralph Hasenhuttl spoke of how Obafemi “still has a lack of professionalism in his whole life, This is a young guy who must learn quickly. “
Obafemi – then still a teenager – defended himself by claiming he was struggling to adjust to the pressures of the Premier League and living away from home.
“There are a lot of pressures that come with it and a lot of sacrifices that have to be made,” he said at the time. The penny has yet to drop.
The stats are not good, in terms of delivering on that early potential. Since his senior Ireland debut under Martin O’Neill in late 2018, Ireland have played 39 times, Obafemi played in just six of those.
Club-wise it’s also grim: this is his fifth season of club football – although he was just 17 starting out and has had injuries – but in those five campaigns, he’s started only 39 games and, even more worryingly, has completed the 90 minutes at club level just 20 times.
Delivering on a consistent basis has been the eternal battle: the Obafemi who helped Ireland rip Scotland apart at home to Scotland was a pale imitation of himself in the away fixture, where he was called ashore after 61 unimpressive minutes.
Injury, over-exposure and a struggle to cope with growing pains held back the teenage Obafemi but recent woes were of his own making.
Swansea’s manager is on record as admitting that they turned down bids for Obafemi from Burnley last summer and, once he was forced to remain a Swan, the reluctant Obafemi turned within himself, appearing to resent the collapse of the move and while he didn’t technically withdrew his labor in response, effort and heart were lacking. It seems Obafemi has been fit in recent weeks but he’s not even been on the bench for City’s last eight games, his head turned by the failed Burnley move
Turning down an Ireland U-21 call, being unavailable for his club for weeks are the sides of Obafemi the sinner. The player who lit up Lansdowne Road against Scotland was Saint Michael.
In Burnley, he has a side aiming for the Premier League; in Kompany, he has a good man-manager.
His wings were clipped with the Swans and Obafemi truly needs to make Turf Moor his own as he cannot afford another five years of treading water. Burnley is his last-chance saloon.