Southampton Manager, Reuben Selles, has denied claims that defender, Mohammed Salisu, has been missing games recently due to “doubts over his commitment” to the club.
The 23-year-old has missed the last two games for Southampton with injury, though reports this week from the Athletic claimed that his absence rather was borne from questions over his commitment to the club.
Salisu’s current contract at St Mary’s expires in 2024 but his fine form and the team’s position in the English Premier League has heightened the potential of the Ghanaian leaving the club at the end of the season.
Mohammed Salisu has played just once in eight Premier League games under Reuben Selles before and after the recent international break.
Answering questions from the media concerning Salisu’s reported commitment to the club ahead of their game against Crystal Palace, Selles said there was nothing of the sort and the club was fully focused on ensuring the Black Stars player gets back to full fitness.
“He went with the national team and had some problems in the past with us like in the game against Chelsea.
Then when he went with the national team, he felt it again. So when he came back we needed to put him into the injury process. He was expected to play today with the B team to try and get the problem solved, but he didn’t feel great so he is not available.
“The injury is related with his hip abductor and there have been problems there during the season but it’s got worse.
He is an injured player and we cannot have an issue with the attitude there if he is not available. We can talk about the players that are available.
Salisu is unfortunately not available for us. The issue with attitude could only be with the players who are with us working and trying to compete for tomorrow’s game.”
Southampton face Crystal Palace on Saturday as they hope to escape relegation from the English top flight.
The Saints sit bottom of the division and they are four points from safety with eight fixtures remaining following a five-match winless run.