Swansea manager Russell Martin says Michael Obafemi is "desperate" to play for Ireland.
Though Obafemi is in the best form of his career, he was not called up to Stephen Kenny's Ireland squad for this month's friendlies against Belgium and Lithuania. The striker is fit but he and his manager believe it's best to ease the workload on a player whose career has been stunted by injury problems.
Stephen Kenny said last week that he spoke to Obafemi about a call-up, and also added that he felt the player was sincere when he told him that he does want to play for Ireland.
"I spoke to Stephen [Kenny]. We chatted at length about Ryan [Manning], Cyrus [Christie] and Michael [Obafemi]," Martin told Wales Online.
"He was really interested in calling Michael up this time. We both had a chat with Michael about the timing of it and what place he’s in physically. He’s played more football than he has done for a long time and we all agreed in the end it’s best he waits until the summer."
19 November 2018; Michael Obafemi of Republic of Ireland with his mother Bola and brother Affy following the UEFA Nations League B group four match between Denmark and Republic of Ireland at Ceres Park in Aarhus, Denmark. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Obafemi - who has one senior cap for Ireland won in a 2018 Nations League game against Denmark - moved to Swansea from Southampton last summer and has scored seven goals for the club. Six of those have come in his last 10 games.
Martin believes the international window will give the player time to do some fitness work which will ensure he can continue to play regularly.
"He has a chance here to get some work in that we need to physically for him to maintain what he's been doing," said Martin.
"I just don’t think he wants anything to disrupt the flow he’s in here. He's really desperate to be involved with Ireland in the long term.
"He's probably having to take a short-term hit now to make sure that he can impact us between now and the end of the season and hopefully them moving forward. We’ve had lots of communication and hopefully at some point he becomes involved."
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