Republic of Ireland under-21 boss Jim Crawford has confirmed that Michael Obafemi has opted not to make himself available for the Euro qualifier with Sweden this month.
The Swansea City striker has set his sights on a senior recall three years after debuting in a UEFA Nations League game with Denmark three years ago.
Crawford had hoped to call on Obafemi, who has five goals in his last eight for the Championship side, but the striker would prefer to target a senior call.
Crawford said: “Michael has made it clear to us before that he sees himself as a senior international player.
“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.
“The last thing I said to the agent was that, if he ever feels that he wants to come to the 21s, don’t hesitate to call because we’ll have a conversation around that.”
Obafemi was part of Crawford’s side for the games against Italy and Iceland at the tail end of the last campaign but hasn’t featured this time around.
Crawford said: “I think it would help Michael if he had played 21s football up until now. It would have given him extra minutes.
“He’s only just got his run together at Swansea - and had he come earlier, there’s every chance he would have played.
“But he’s made that decision. His agent was honest with me about that and I can appreciate that.
“If he’s scoring goals with Swansea surely now he comes under the radar of Stephen. He was honest enough with us where he sees himself.”
Crawford insisted there’s no talk of a fall-out between Obademi and anybody in the Irish set-up and it’s simply a case of the 21-year-old backing himself.
I got on very well with Michael. He played for us against Italy away and Iceland at home as our number nine, our target man, and he was never a problem.
“I did say to him: ‘you need to start playing games.’ There’s no point being at Southampton where you’re in the first team but you’re making cameo appearances here and there.
“Because he wasn’t even getting 23s games. So I think he’s done the wise thing. He’s gone, albeit it was a slow start for him at Swansea, he’s starting to fulfil his potential.
“There’s more in him. He’s a player of frightening potential. I’d expect him to be upfront with me, and he was, and I’ve got no complaints with that.
“If he was somebody that’d say yeah I’ll come in and then suddenly you name the squad and they’re getting this injury and that injury and things like that, that would be frustrating. But you’ve got to admire his honesty about the whole situation.
He added: “For me if you say ‘I’m a senior player,’ you’ve got to back yourself and you’ve got to produce.
“If you’re a senior player you’ve got to be scoring goals at a high level, and he’s doing that. You can’t argue with that.
“As a player. I’d be more concerned about my own development and where I’m at. It’s something that would have stood to him if he’d gone and played with the 21s.
“International football can be different. It’s more tactical. But he chose not to. That was his decision.
“And he’s got into the Swansea team after what I consider a slow start and he’s produced some good performances.”
