Russell Martin says Michael Obafemi has fallen well short of the levels expected of him this season.
The striker endured a tough start to life at Swansea City after joining from Southampton in the 2021 summer transfer window but rapidly improved in the second-half of the campaign.
However, Obafemi has been unable to replicate what was a positive first-half of 2022 in his second season at the club, scoring just three times in 19 Championship appearances this term.
He has not featured for the Swans since sustaining an injury while on international duty with Republic of Ireland during the World Cup break.
It comes after the front-man was left out of the side earlier on in the campaign amid transfer interest from Burnley. The Clarets had a number of bids rejected by Swansea in the summer window, and Martin has opened up on his talks with the 22-year-old of late.
"Michael hasn't done well enough," said Martin. "He had a great end to last season. He's not given us anywhere near enough this season, he knows my thoughts on that. I think we'll have to wait and see (on potential January interest).
"The August thing rocked him, for sure. Some players can cope better with that than others. It's very similar to last season's pattern really which is really frustrating for us.
"You take a step forward and then two steps back. He knows my thoughts on it. We've had really honest chats.
"We got really praised with the way we dealt with him last season. It was about getting him to a point where he could trust himself, we could trust him to do a certain role in the team and we haven't quite seen that this season. Everyone expected him to pick up where he left off last year, but football is not linear.
"He's a young man living a long way from home with different things to deal with. Young men don't always get it right. We really love Mike as a character, a person, but all we can ask for from any of the lads is 100%, all in, a willingness to run for the team, and we've only seen that in glimpses."
Obafemi has been sidelined for more than a month but is expected to play a part for Swansea over the festive period.
Martin's men face Reading, Watford and Burnley in the space of seven days after Christmas, and the Swansea boss remains confident that the former Southampton man can rediscover his best form in south Wales.
"He's not 100%. I would have thought he'd be back involved over the Christmas period," added Martin. "Reading might be too early but he's training hard. He's not trained with the group yet. He's getting closer all the time.
"When he's fully fit he trusts his body and he's a different player. We have to be patient. He's desperate to be back in quickly but we have to be patient with that.
"I'm pretty sure, at some point, Michael will take off, as will Joel Piroe, I think the weekend will be great for him, because we've missed those goals.
"It'll help us a lot if we get a fully fit and firing Michael for the second-half of the season."
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