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Tom Coleman

Swansea City headlines as Joe Rodon's Spurs 'disappointment and frustration' laid bare and striker turns down international call

Here's your round-up of all the latest Swansea City headlines for Wednesday, March 16.

Obafemi turns down under-21s call

Swansea striker Michael Obafemi has turned down a call-up to the Republic of Ireland's under-21s side.

The 21-year-old has been in fine form for the Swans, netting four goals in his last eight games - a run of form that had sparked talk of an international recall.

Obafemi hasn't won a senior cap since being handed his debut by Martin O'Neill back in 2018.

He has since dropped down into the under-21s set-up, where he's played five times.

There had been hopes that he would be available for the under-21s' qualifier with Sweden in a fortnight's time.

However, under-21s boss Jim Crawford says the striker has turned down their advances in the hope of earning a senior call-up instead.

“Michael has made it clear to us before that he sees himself as a senior international player. It’s unfortunate from an U21s perspective but I’ve had a conversation with his agent and that’s where it’s at at the minute,” said Crawford.

“The last thing I said to the agent was that if he ever feels that he wants to come to the U-21s, don’t hesitate to call because we’ll have a conversation around that. In his own eyes, I think Michael sees himself as a senior player.

“It’s something that would have stood to him if he’d gone and played with the U-21s. International football can be different. It’s more tactical. But he chose not to. That was his 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.”

It remains to be seen if Obafemi will earn himself the senior call-up he so craves, with boss Stephen Kenny set to name his squad on Friday.

McCann wary of 'unique' Swans

Peterborough boss Grant McCann has urged his side to show patience and discipline if they are to overcome Swansea's 'unique' brand of football under Russell Martin tonight.

Posh take on the Swans at London Road and McCann admits he's expecting the visitors to dominate possession for much of the evening, having learned plenty of lessons from facing Martin's MK Dons side last season.

“I’ve come up against Russell Martin teams at MK Dons and Swansea before and they have a unique style of play,” said McCann.

“They are very much possession-based and they can be very hard to play against as they rotate players all the time.

“It’s not unusual for their centre-half to turn up at centre forward!

“We will have to be disciplined in terms of shape and structure. We will have to concentrate and our communication must be good from number one to number 11. But we also have to make sure we carry a threat.”

Ntcham keeps place in Cameroon squad

Swansea midfielder Olivier Ntcham has kept his place in Cameroon's 27-man squad for the upcoming World Cup play-off against Algeria.

The 26-year-old could well make his debut for the Indomitable Lions, having previously turned out for France's under-21s.

Ntcham has so far netted three goals in 29 appearances for the Swans since arriving in south Wales back in September.

Page lifts lid on talks with 'disappointed' Rodon

Rob Page says Joe Rodon will be working 'ridiculously hard' to get himself up to speed for the upcoming Wales camp, but admits the former Swans centre-back is disappointed by his lack of game time.

Rodon has been named in Page's 26-man Wales squad for the upcoming World Cup play-off semi-final with Austria next week, despite a frustrating lack of game time at Tottenham under boss Antonio Conte.

And while he admits the centre-back would like to playing more regularly, Page insists he has no concerns over Rodon's sharpness.

"He's disappointed he's not playing," Page said.

"Joe's frustrated. Any player that's involved in professional football wants to earn their money. They want to play on a Saturday afternoon and he is frustrated.

"I know Joe as a character. I've known him all the way from under-21s and I know he'll be training ridiculously hard every single day to make an impression on the manager.

"Or if not to get himself in a position where he's right for us.

"They're the conversations that I've had with him. If it's not for Tottenham then he'll be ready for us.

"He's never let us down. Whenever he's turned up on camp, irrespective of whether he's playing or not on the Saturday, he's always made sure that physically and mentally, he's ready to perform for us."

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