Chelsea loanee Lesley Ugochukwu has removed all traces of Southampton from his social media in an apparent protest against a lack of playing time according to reports.
Ugochukwu joined Chelsea from French side Rennes in the summer of 2023 in a deal worth around £23.5m, although he was plagued by injury issues last season.
The Frenchman made 15 appearances in all competitions under Mauricio Pochettino, but missed a large chunk of the season with a hamstring injury.
Ugochukwu removes all traces of Southampton from his social media
Chelsea took the decision to send the 20-year-old on loan to newly promoted Southampton to gain first team experience in the Premier League.
However, things haven’t gone according to plan for the midfielder and he’s struggled to make an impact for the Saints.
Russell Martin has handed him just two Premier League starts and he’s only managed nine appearances in all competitions, although he did impress in the Carabao Cup against Everton.
Lesley Ugochukwu winning a midfield battle.
Ugochukwu has struggled for game time at Southampton.
Ugochukwu wasn’t named in the match day squad for Southampton’s draw against Brighton on Friday evening, with no explanation given.
As with Andrey Santos at Nottingham Forest last season Chelsea will be keeping a close eye on Ugochukwu’s game time and if things don’t improve they will more than likely recall him.
Ugochukwu won’t feature in Southampton’s next match against the Blues because of the conditions of his loan and fans have noticed he might not be happy at the club following his latest social media activity.
Supporters noticed on Saturday that the midfielder had removed all traces of Southampton from his social media with his Instagram now only showing personal pictures and ones of him in action for Chelsea.
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Nicolas Jackson hits an outside of the foot shot in training.
A Chelsea flag flies at Wembley. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Josh Acheampong in preseason with Wrexham.
Quite what this means or why he’s done it remains unclear but it would appear Ugochukwu isn’t happy with how things are going at St Mary’s.
Contrast that to Andrey Santos at Strasbourg and the loans are night and day with the young Brazilian excelling in Ligue 1 and Chelsea may have to rethink Ugochukwu’s development plan if things don’t improve at Southampton.