Phil SumblerThere comes a point in every players career where they have to decide if they are to knuckle down and toe the relevant line or whether they want to head towards a career where you will always wonder what could have been
Michael Obafemi is currently at that crossroads in his career. He has been given a chance at Swansea following his summer move to forge a career that he will hope right now ends back in the Premier League and before. However, with the wrong choices and the wrong decisions then he could end up a lower league player who never realises his full potential. There have been many before him who have taken the route of the latter but we have to hope that he will take the route of the former.
Obafemi has something about him. You can see it in his fleeting performances for the Swans and if he gets his head down and focuses on it, he could become as important to us as any player that we currently have in our squad. But he has to want it as this is one of those situations where the will as opposed to the skill is right now the most important thing.
Obafemi was left out of the Swans squad that travelled to Bournemouth on the weekend amongst words from Russell Martin that clearly suggested the striker was not pulling his weight in training amongst other things. It was a clear statement of intent from the Swans boss in that he won’t take anyone not buying into the culture lightly and it doesn’t really matter who you are, you don’t get any special treatment.
“There are certain things you have to make sure you do to be in the squad,” Martin explained to Wales Online after the game.
“You’ve got guys like Jay Fulton at home training so hard, Rhys Williams, Brandon Cooper. You have to behave every day like what you are, a professional footballer.
“He’s done nothing major but there’s stuff we need to help him with.
“He’s disappointed. I’m disappointed he’s not here, but performance doesn’t come before culture, it’s the other way around. He’ll get there and I’m sure he’ll be back involved soon.
“It’s just a few disciplinary things in terms of the way we train, time keeping and it does matter unfortunately.
“That’s where we’re at. He understands and he respects it. He will be better for it because he’s a really brilliant lad who hasn’t been shown enough care or love for a while because of the position he’s been in.”
It seems quite simple from here that the choice belongs to Obafemi. He can heed the warnings of his manager and enjoy the chances he will undoubtedly be given here or he could see a promising career slip slowly away because our discipline requirements will not differ hugely from club to club.
In years to come Obafemi should (and hopefully will) look back on this particularly period as a pivotal moment in his career. He may well just be lucky that he has someone with strong beliefs and the ability to stand by them with a view to guiding the early stages of a players career.
It is clear that Martin is not a fan of the way Obafemi has been handled to date and he has a plan as to how to change that. And that means that hopefully if manager and player can work together then the real winners will be Swansea City. We all want that.
