Swansea City striker Michael Obafemi has been rewarded for his impressive end of season form with a recall to the Republic of Ireland squad for the upcoming Nations League fixtures.
The 21 year old returns to the Irish senior setup for the first time in four years, having not featured for the Boys In Green since last receiving a call-up when Mick McCarthy was in charge in 2018.
Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny was full of praise for the likeable striker during his press conference announcing the squad.
“I’ve been to Swansea a few times because we have Michael Obafemi, Cyrus Christie and Ryan Manning playing together,” the Irish manager said in Wednesday’s press conference.
“It is the first time that Michael has had a run of consecutive games. It is very hard for young players in the Premier League to get a run of games as the standard is so high and the squads are so big.
“You can see the improvement in Michael since he moved to Swansea. I have seen aspects of his play that I hadn’t seen previously. His hold up play has really come on well and he has shown great football intelligence aligned with the speed he has got.
“The performances I have seen recently for Swansea are the best I have seen from him. He doesn’t take penalties and he scored 12 goals in 16 games so he has done very well.
“I have had a few meetings with Michael. He is a charismatic guy and he is very proud to play for Ireland. He is looking forward to it.”
Also included in the squad is Ryan Manning, alongside fromer Swan and now free agent Cyrus Christie.
The Republic kick-off their Nations League campaign against Armenia, before they welcome Ukraine to the Aviva Stadium on June 8.
Scotland then visit the Aviva on June 11, before the Republic finish the June round of Nations League fixtures with a trip to Poland to face Ukraine.