Southampton manager Russell Martin has stated that Kamaldeen Sulemana planned to join a top division club this summer, either in England or on the Continent, but that did not happen due to no one meeting his release clause price.
Last season, the Ghanian International was not the flop that Tall Paul Onauchu turned out to be, but he never truly found top form until the final game of the season, when he scored twice against Liverpool.
That may have led him to assume that he had done enough to deserve a move away from St Mary’s to a top division club elsewhere, but that was not the case, as footballleagueworld.co.uk has discovered following statements from Saints manager Russell Martin.
Kamaldeen Sulemana has been conspicuous by his absence in the last few months since Saints returned to pre-season training. There were vague whispers of a mysterious injury suffered in training by the Ghanian, but no real concrete statement was made as to what it was or how long it would take for him to recover, and he has yet to make an appearance for the club this season.
Russell Martin has had this to say about the situation.
“I think Kamaldeen was one of the players who probably thought he was going to be in the Premier League or in a top league somewhere because of the amount of interest that was in him.
“But then no club ever came up with the money they needed to to release Kamaldeen from here. So with that and an injury to contend with to get fit, it brings difficulty for a young man.
“There’s probably still a few [Southampton players] who are frustrated about the transfer window and the information that they were given by certain people outside of the club and then what actually goes on and they end up staying, but if he [Sulemana] if he is frustrated, he’s been amazing.”
That may have led him to assume that he had done enough to deserve a move away from St Mary’s to a top division club elsewhere, but that was not the case, as footballleagueworld.co.uk has discovered following statements from Saints manager Russell Martin.
Kamaldeen Sulemana has been conspicuous by his absence in the last few months since Saints returned to pre-season training. There were vague whispers of a mysterious injury suffered in training by the Ghanian, but no real concrete statement was made as to what it was or how long it would take for him to recover, and he has yet to make an appearance for the club this season.
According to Eurosport1.co.uk, there was interest in Sulemana from Everton in England and Nice, Lille, and Marseille in France, but all resisted using the £30 million release clause in his contract, which Southampton insisted on.
Russell Martin’s words are intriguing in that they appear to imply that Sulemana and others were demanding moves and were not dedicated to the club, but then blames other people, most likely agents, for changing their minds.
He appears to be not only extending an olive branch to Sulemana, but also easing his return to the first team and with the supporters by implying that the player has “been amazing.”
This highlights the problem that Saints had in the summer, a lot of the squad seem to have thought that they would be in big demand in the summer, but it turned out that the big money moves that their agents told them were going to be on the table, weren’t there, at least not unless Saints were willing to virtually give the players away, which we now can see is clear that they refused to do.
Hopefully though Sulemana will now get his head down and work hard as there is undoubtably a player who can play in the Premier League in there, but if he wants to get back to that level either with Southampton or elsewhere then he has to prove to other clubs he is good enough and the way to do that is on the pitch.
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