RUSSELL MARTIN the Swansea manager has claimed that he was disappointed with Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny's comments regarding Michael Obafemi's issue at club level
Obafemi returned to the Irish squad for the last round of Nations League games and scored against Scotland.
Since then, he's been linked with a move away from Swansea and has been omitted from Martin's matchday teams.
Back in September, after the close of the Transfer window, Russell Martin left the striker out of the QPR game
Explaining his omission Russel said: "So Michael just wasn't in the right frame of mind."
"We had a chat about it, we spoke what we thought would be best for the group and what would be best for him.
"We decided together that it would be best for him to have the weekend off, come in on Monday.
"We'll have a conversation and take it from there. Where he's at, we'll find out on Monday.
Kenny has selected the forward for the upcoming Nations League games despite a lack of game time.
“I’ve spoken to Michael and like everything else there are two or three sides to every story.”
“Certainly Michael wants to play football, he wants to play for Swansea, said Kenny during his squad announcement press conference on Thursday.
“Obviously he has been omitted from the last couple of squads after the deadline day bids and so forth. It’s not ideal, we want our players playing and coming in in good form. It’s just one of those things, I’m sure he’ll be back playing shortly.
“We’re delighted to have him in the squad because we have watched him a few times this season and he has played well, he has been at the level he finished off last season.
"Hopefully he'll get some minutes on the pitch and it'll help him physically and mentally. Sometimes going away on international duty, it can give you a break from the norm and sometimes just going out of that routine and being away representing your country can give you a little bit of energy when you come back, especially if it goes well," he said.
"So I hope he does as well for (Ireland) as he did in the summer.
He was great for them. But really there's no personal problem with Michael. We get on brilliantly. He just needs to earn the trust back from his team-mates and from us as a group of staff, the rest of the club and the supporters - the trust that everyone has shown in him for a very long time.
"It really is that simple. There are no three sides to the story. I spoke to Stephen (Kenny) before he called him up so I'm a bit disappointed by those comments. It is what it is. There's no agenda.
"He goes away with Ireland and we hope he does brilliantly and we hope he does brilliantly for us when he comes back. It's that simple."
Ireland play Scotland away on the 24th of this month, and will play Armenia in Dublin, three days later.
Dublin , Ireland - 11 June 2022; Michael Obafemi of Republic of Ireland . (Photo By Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)See More: Obafemi
