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Mohammed Salisu to make Southampton debut against Shrewsbury Town

Football News Mohammed Salisu
DEC 29, 2020 LISTEN
Mohammed Salisu

Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has said Mohammed Salisu will make his debut for the club in their next month's FA Cup game against Shrewsbury Town.

The 21-year-old is yet to make his debut for the Premier League club following his move from Real Valladolid this summer.

Salisu has been a regular in full-contact first-team training sessions and has been named on the bench during the club's last five Premier League games.

And with Jannik Vestergaard now set for a spell on the sidelines with a troublesome knee injury, many expected Salisu to make the step up against Fulham on Boxing Day having been signed as the perfect man to fill that left-centre-back spot.

But it was Jack Stephens who was given the nod at Craven Cottage and now looks set to keep his place for upcoming games against West Ham United and Liverpool.

"For me, it was important [against Fulham] that I brought in a player who knew immediately what he was doing," said Hasenhuttl.

"When you have three changes in the team you need to have as much automatism as possible.

"I am sure Salisu could also play well, but it is important not to have too many changes and to keep our shape so that the players know exactly what they're doing and I think we made the right decision.

"It was important too that Jack showed that he could play on the left because I did not want to move Jan back to the left side.

"It was a little bit new for him but he is experienced as had the quality to handle this. He did a good job," he said.

Salisu, meanwhile, watched on from the bench yet again but his chance will soon come, Hasenhuttl revealed, with the manager admitting that January's visit of League One club Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup could be the perfect moment for the defender to introduce himself to Southampton supporters.

"Salisu is the future of this club. It will take time. We know how long it takes for some players to step into the team," he added as he chatted to HampshireLive.

"He has so much potential and [at Fulham] it was more important for me, as I said, not to unsettle the team. It would have been difficult, I think.

"I am ready happy that Sali is here and he shows to me in every session that he can help up."

Salisu joined Southampton in a deal worth £10.9m.

Samuel Ekow Amoasi Appiah
Samuel Ekow Amoasi Appiah

Sports JournalistPage: SamuelEkowAmoasiAppiah

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