Ireland international Michael Obafemi endeared himself in the hearts of Swansea City fans for all time with his performance in Saturday's South Wales Derby in Cardiff.
Not only did Obafemi score twice as the Swans routed their bitter Welsh rivals 4-0 on Saturday afternoon, he celebrated his first goal with the controversial 'Swim Away' gesture that has gotten his manager and teammates in hot water in the past.
Obafemi has found a home in Swansea: after a few seasons in Southampton marred by injury, Obafemi has hit the best form of his career. He's scored six goals in six games and is showing the ability that earned him an Ireland senior cap at 18.
However his performance did not go down very well amongst Cardiff City fans. Not only was he subject to all kinds of sweary vitriol from home fans, former Cardiff City players were also giving out about him on Twitter.
Joe Ledley, who played for Cardiff City for the first six seasons of his career and earned 77 Wales caps, responded to a Swansea fan praising Obafemi yesterday on Twitter, and called Obafemi a 'shocking player'.
Yea scored but shocking player
— Joe Ledley (@joe16led) April 2, 2022
The tweet was sent on 12.20am Sunday morning, when the defeat was still raw. Obafemi couldn't resist clapping back this morning.
NIBBLE!!!!🥴 https://t.co/Gu9KWSxO1q
— MO (@michaelobafemi_) April 4, 2022
Obafemi's teammate Jamie Paterson also got involved.
Surely that’s a fake account 🤣 https://t.co/KghVKBy50c
— Jamie Paterson (@jamiepaterson12) April 4, 2022
It's clear that Swansea fans have really embraced Obafemi these past few months, and a social media scrap with a former Cardiff player will only tighten that bond.
Swansea fans love Michael Obafemi
— Liam 🏴 (@LiamaThomas21) April 4, 2022
Obafemi's coach Russell Martin was full of praise for Obafemi.
“I put it down to finding a level of consistency in his daily approach and his willingness to accept criticism and be honest with me and his team-mates"
“Most of all, he’s dropped his guard and is being himself.
“He’s just worked really hard, good attitude and the rest comes. He’s showing glimpses of his potential and hopefully he’ll become a really big player for us.
If this form continues, we'll be seeing Obafemi back in an Ireland jersey shortly.
SEE ALSO: Michael Obafemi v Joe Ledley Is Not The Twitter Beef We Were Expecting Today
