It's fair to say that 42 months is a long time in football. Players have come and gone, wonderkids have become has-beens, and managers have built empires only to see them crumble.
It also happens to be the length of time it has been since Michael Obafemi's Ireland debut. Since then, a second cap has been rather hard to come by.
If you had been told back November 2018 when the young striker took to the pitch for the match against Denmark that we would be waiting three-and-a-half years to see him play for Ireland again, you probably would have had some questions. While there had been some doubts about his international future prior to that game, all of that had seemingly been put behind him as he stepped on the field in Aarhus.
The reality was a little more complicated. What followed was a combination of injuries, lack of form, failed transfers, international snubs, a rediscovering of confidence, and a return from the international wilderness.
All of this before his 22nd birthday.
With Ireland set to embark on their UEFA Nations League campaign later this week, Michael Obafemi is now back on a stage where many assumed he would be well established at this point in his career. That is hopefully still to come. Ahead of what should be his second international cap in the days ahead, it is worth remembering the long and winding road that led us to this point.
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If I felt that was genuine and that was coming from him, then I wouldn’t have a problem.
In terms of timing, Michael Obafemi's arrival to the forefront of Irish footballing consciousness hardly came at the most ideal moment.
Having impressed at youth level for both Ireland and Southampton, he made his Premier League debut in January of 2018 as a late substitute against Spurs. At 17 years and 116 days old, he was the second youngest Southampton player to feature in the division.
He would have to wait until later that year before being given another opportunity. Despite this, a couple of brief appearances off the bench at the start of November were enough to get him into the Ireland squad for that month's internationals.
Obafemi arrived into an Ireland side that was creaking. Martin O'Neill's position was was coming under massive scrutiny after the fiasco in the World Cup play-off against Denmark was followed up by an incredibly poor UEFA Nations League campaign.
The call-up of the young Southampton striker was an out of character one. Not exactly one to hand out caps to young prospects, it is likely that the fact that Obafemi was eligible for a number of nations played a role in the decision to bring him into the squad, with speculation mounting that England and Nigeria were hovering.
After all, the criticism relating to the sagas surrounding Jack Grealish and Declan Rice was still ringing in O'Neill's ears. Grealish had turned his back on Ireland during his tenure, while his failure to play Rice in a competitive game also opened the door for his move to England (the West Ham player's decision would not be confirmed until four months after this international window).
The move to bring Obafemi into the fold seemed like an entirely preemptive one.
This was despite the fact that O'Neill wasn't even sure that the player actually wanted to play for Ireland. While he had turned up to the camp and trained with the squad, his manager suggested that it was no certainty that we would ever see him pull on the green jersey.
“We have only done a bit of training there, but he did very well, very well indeed," O'Neill said in the buildup to the friendly against Northern Ireland.
"If he was really happy with the situation and the family was happy with that there, and it wasn’t just a spur of the moment thing; if I felt that was genuine and that was coming from him, then I wouldn’t have a problem (with playing him)."
Obafemi came in for criticism as a result of these comments. After all, why meet up with the squad if he wasn't sure that he even wanted to play for Ireland?
On the player's behalf, this seemed to be much ado about nothing. He issued a statement before the games saying that there was no doubt about his international future.
While he wouldn't play in the friendly against Northern Ireland, he would come off the bench in the final ten minutes against Denmark. As per FIFA rules at the time, he was now wedded to Ireland on the international stage.
Speaking after that game, he expressed his pride at making his senior Irish debut.
"It's an amazing feeling to get my first cap for my country. I'm very proud tonight, absolutely buzzing," he told Sky Sports.
"There was no doubt in my head about playing for Ireland. I've represented Ireland in youth ages. I never had any doubts at all."
All in🇮🇪☘️ pic.twitter.com/R00hcfFn9a
— MO (@michaelobafemi_) November 15, 2018
His debut would be Martin O'Neill's final game in charge.
As for Obafemi, his international career would not go as smoothly as he would have hoped.
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We do play with one lone central striker and he’s not played that role that much because his team play with a two.
Michael Obafemi would score his first Premier League goal the following month, a second half strike to wrap up a 3-1 victory over Huddersfield Town.
However, it wasn't soon before injuries became an issue.
The striker would make only one appearance in the second half of the campaign due to persistent hamstring problems. In fact, he played a total of 44 minutes in the league over the first nine months of 2019. As a result, international opportunities were not forthcoming.
He did start to put some good form together from that point, including this brilliant strike in a 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge.
😎 Southampton open the scoring at Stamford Bridge, and what a cool finish it is from Michael Obafemi!
🙌 With Danny Ings starting on the bench, the young Irish striker has grabbed his opportunity with both hands pic.twitter.com/2yFd8jWpSX— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) December 26, 2019
Prior to this season, this was Obafemi's only sustained run without injuries at first team level. He would feature 21 times in the Premier League during the 2019/20 season. He was especially impressive after the division resumed after the break due to the coronavirus pandemic.
That boded well for his international career. Stephen Kenny was now at the helm for Ireland, coming into the job with the promise of a youth movement set to follow. Officially appointed in April of that year, he would have been watching closely as the forward produced the best form of his career. It was seen as a certainty that he would included in the manager's first senior squad that August.
That is, until he wasn't.
Obafemi's name was notably absent as the squad was announced, something that came as a surprise to most. That includes the player himself, who simply tweeted the word "disgrace" soon after the snub. That was quickly deleted and replaced with a slightly more diplomatic reaction.
On Kenny's behalf, he simply felt that Obafemi wasn't ready for senior international football.
"Michael didn’t make this squad, but squads are evolving and changing. We do play with one lone central striker and he’s not played that role that much because his team play with a two," Kenny said when asked about the player's absence from the squad.
"It is a different position. He has played wide with Southampton on occasion, he’s still learning that one. I see him as a striker and he’s someone who hopefully has a big future with Ireland."
As it turned out, this would coincide with a resurfacing of his injury issues.
In the 12 months after this squad was announced, Michael Obafemi would play a grand total of 50 minutes for Southampton at first team level, largely down to injuries. It was a devastating period for his development, essentially missing out on a year of his career.
There were a couple of appearances for the Ireland U21 side in the months after that snub, with one in particular standing out. Despite having not featured recently at club level, he was named to start in Jim Crawford's side for a vital qualifier against Iceland. A win in that game would have put the team on the verge of qualifying for the Euros.
Instead, Obafemi put in an entirely abject performance as the team fell to a 2-1 home defeat. Unfortunately, it was the game that had best summed up his Ireland career up to that point.
His injury problems also stopped what looked like a promising loan move to Swansea City in January of 2021. Ultimately, he would be left on the sidelines for the remainder of the season, barring a couple of inconsequential cameos late in the campaign.
At this point, it looked like there was a danger that Obafemi's career was getting away from him. Injuries and a lack of opportunities meant that his progress had stalled to a frightening degree. There was a real sense of relief when he made the permanent move to Swansea last August. Injuries permitting, he would finally be given a sustained opportunity to play first team football.
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Michael has made it clear to us before that he sees himself as a senior international player.
His progress was not immediately obvious after that move. The 21-year old struggled with the demands of playing week to week, with a couple of niggly injuries meaning he never put a run together. In fact, he would score only one goal for the club before the start of February.
Once his body adjusted to the demands of the Championship and that second goal arrived, Obafemi never really looked back.
From the the start of February, he scored 12 goals in 15 Championship appearances. That is no mean feat for a player of his age, firmly putting himself back into the Ireland conversation.
The movement and the finish! That is brilliant centre forward play from Michael Obafemi 🔥pic.twitter.com/ZYQfP3LIez
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) April 18, 2022
It was thought that he could be given a first call-up under Stephen Kenny for the friendlies in March, although that window would prove to be the latest hiccup in the player's Ireland career.
Ireland U21 boss Jim Crawford revealed early in the month that Obafemi had made it clear that he was no longer interested in lining out at that level.
"Michael has made it clear to us before that he sees himself as a senior international player," Crawford confirmed at the time.
“It’s unfortunate from an under-21s perspective but I’ve had a conversation with his agent and that’s where it’s at at the minute."
It was assumed at that point that he would be included in the senior squad a few days later. As it turns out, Obafemi had also excused himself from those duties.
Stephen Kenny confirmed that the player did not feel his body was ready to commit to international football as he was still adapting to the rigours of playing first team football on a consistent basis.
Despite speculation that the player was perhaps going to take advantage of the new FIFA eligibility rules by switching to Nigeria, Kenny said the player was committed to Ireland.
"Michael is ambitious and I think the best is still to come from him and he’s shown potential in the last few weeks, maybe more so because he’s been able to get consecutive games”, said Kenny at the time.
“There was speculation about whether he would want to be part of Ireland in the future – the speculation regarding Nigeria – but he was on the phone the other night to me and he said: ‘Stephen, I really want to play for Ireland. It’s important to me but I just have to get myself right. It’s the first time I’ve had a run of games.’ That’s the way he feels."
That decision has been since been justified.
Obafemi went from strength to strength over the remainder of the campaign, reminding everyone why they were so excited when he first made his international debut back in 2018.
Now, he's back.
With Ireland set to play four UEFA Nations League fixtures over the next couple of weeks, we should finally be given another glimpse at Michael Obafemi in a green jersey. If he can carry his club form onto the international stage, it is a very exciting prospect for Stephen Kenny and the supporters.
The 42 months that have passed since his last Ireland cap have been filled with ups and downs, but now in the right condition in both a physical and mental sense, the 21-year old is ready to make his mark.
It's time to see what all that initial hype was really about.
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