Southampton chief executive Martin Semmens has insisted that the Saints still have full confidence that Mohammed Salisu has a huge role to play at the club over the coming seasons, despite a frustrating start to life at St Mary’s.
The defender arrived at the club last year for a fee of £10.9m, with the 21-year-old’s arrival looking like another potentially wise investment by the Saints after an excellent 2019/20 season with Real Valladolid. The Ghanaian helped the La Liga side record nine clean sheets and averaged five clearances, 1.3 tackles and 1.1 interceptions per game (Sofascore).
However, he is yet to make his Saints debut, with the defender having arrived with injury concerns which were set to keep him out until late autumn. The 21-year-old has suffered further injury setbacks since then, which has prolonged his absence from the side. That prevented Ralph Hasnehuttl from giving him his debut, as the manager had planned to do in the FA Cup tie against Shrewsbury Town last week.
Despite those issues, speaking to BBC, Semmens has insisted that he made the decision to sign Salisu in the summer because he was convinced of his potential to develop into a future star for the club. The Saints chief also maintained that Southampton will remain patient with the defender and offer him the support and time he needs to recover, saying:
He came to us with a medical issue and we knew he probably won’t play until October. From our perspective, we made that decision. That decision is on me, it’s not on him or Ralph. We made that decision because we believe he’s going to be a superstar in the future.
We expected him to be available from the middle of October and in November he was getting on track, then he had a setback that probably pushed him into December.
Just when he was ready, just when he was training every day and doing really well he picked up a muscle injury, I think after the Fulham game. So he was ready to play and if fit, Ralph would have selected him but he picked up a muscle injury. He’s not too far away.
I think we need to be really clear here: we are exceptionally happy with him as a person and a character. He’s physically great and fits our system and Ralph loves working with him and he’ll be a great player in our future.
Read Southampton verdict
Salisu’s situation has been very frustrating so far for all connected with Southampton. It would have been hoped that the defender would have been able to come in and adapt well to life in the Premier League, pushing for regular game-time at the heart of the defence before long.
There may be a concern that Southampton are not going to see the best of him throughout the current campaign, if they see him at all . However, it might not be a bad idea to give him the rest of the season to recover fully so that he can return to full fitness for the start of next term and show his worth in the long run.
Semmens’ faith in the defender suggests that the Saints are not likely to look to cash in on him any time soon and will instead invest time in him. That will demonstrate to Salisu that Hasenhuttl has full confidence in his qualities and should provide him with the confidence to make an impact when he is ready to do so.
