The Irish striker completed a move to Turf Moor last January, initially on loan, before making it permanent after their promotion to the Premier League in the summer.
However, the former Southampton man endured a torrid time at Burnley and the move hasn’t benefited Obafemi’s career like he perhaps thought it would.
The 23-year-old needs a fresh start and Millwall supporters will be hoping that he can show some of the form he showed at Swansea during the second-half of the 2021/22 season as the club look to move up the Championship table under Joe Edwards.
Since joining the Clarets in January 2023, the Irishman has only made 16 appearances, with just two of them coming this season.
He scored just twice during their 2022/23 title-winning campaign and is yet to score this season after playing just 18 minutes of football.
Obafemi missed the first chunk of the season, but even when he’s been fit and available, he’s yet to make a start and has even been left out of the matchday squad in recent weeks.
The Irishman came from Swansea City, where he played for the team for 52 games and scored 15 goals, including a strong run of play towards the conclusion of the 2021–2022 season.
His contract at Burnley was initially for a loan, but if the Clarets were promoted—which they were—the deal would become permanent.
Obafemi’s future at Turf Moor appears to be uncertain, though, as manager Vincent Kompany is willing to loan the player out despite the team’s 19th-place finish in the Premier League and relegation struggle.
To put it plainly, this move has been a huge letdown.
Obafemi is undoubtedly a very skilled player, but concerns about his mentality have existed for a while.
This could be Obafemi’s chance to turn his career around because Millwall, a traditionally no-nonsense club, won’t tolerate any players with terrible attitudes.
Obafemi’s off-field problems kept him out of the Swansea matchday squads for weeks, and as a young player, Ralph Hasenhüttl warned him about his attitude.
Following the Irishman’s sixth-straight matchday squad exclusion that season in November 2021, Swansea manager Russell Martin publicly pushed Obafemi to step up his off-field professionalism.
Michael acknowledges that he shouldn’t be on the team and that there is no pressing reason for his exclusion, according to Martin.
Our goal is to help gamers become better. Culturally, this group is really powerful. After much conversation, he realises that in order to develop into the player and person he wants to be, he needs to improve in a few areas.
“He feels let down. Though I’m sad he’s not here, culture comes before performance—not the other way around. He’ll make it, and I have no doubt that he’ll soon return to the scene.
“It’s just a few disciplinary things in terms of the way we train, time-keeping, and it does matter, unfortunately.”
Currently ranked eighteenth in the league, they’ll be relying on Obafemi to bag goals and help move them up the table.
The player need to view this as a fantastic chance to restart his career, score some goals, and lend his support to the team in any way he can.
It would not be an overstatement to suggest that Millwall has one of the greatest attackers in the league if they can bring in a completely committed and driven Obafemi. He will recognise that time is running out if he is to develop into the player he knows he can become since, at 23, he is no longer a child.
The Irishman’s career may have reached its pinnacle during this loan period.
Leave a Reply