SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 14: Lesley Ugochukwu of Southampton ahead of the Premier League match between Southampton FC and Manchester United FC at St Mary's Stadium on September 14, 2024 in Southampton, England. (Photo by Matt Watson/Southampton FC via Getty Images)
Lesley Ugochukwu is in hot water at loan club Southampton
Southampton boss Russell Martin has fired back at loan star Lesley Ugochukwu after the 20-year-old petulantly removed the club from his social media profiles.
Ugochukwu joined the Saints on loan from Chelsea in the summer transfer window. The Blues agreed to send Ugochukwu, who joined from Rennes for around £23.5million last year, to Southampton in order for him to get more first-team football this season.
But he has endured a difficult time at St Mary's, starting just two Premier League matches and making only nine appearances altogether across all competitions. He was then absent from the Southampton squad for Friday night’s 1-1 draw against Brighton.
Martin did not offer an explanation for that decison and it did not go down well with Ugochukwu. The midfielder wiped all traces of Southampton from his Instagram account in an apparent protest against his lack of game time.
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Eagle-eyed Saints fans noticed on Saturday morning that Ugochukwu had scrubbed all mentions of his current side. Chelsea are tagged in his bio and all posts are either personal ones or show the Frenchman in the blue shirt of his parent club.
Ugochukwu will also miss Wednesday's game against Chelsea, as he cannot play against his parent club. Martin has now insisted that the youngster knows full well why he was left out against Brighton.
"I think if it's not Chelsea, he's probably back in the squad. He wasn't in the squad against Brighton and he knows the reason why," the Southampton boss told the Daily Echo ahead of the visit of Chelsea.
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Boss Russell Martin sent a warning to the Chelsea loanee ( Image: Matt Watson/Getty Images)
"Every game is different so it doesn't mean he's not going to be in the squad moving forward. We will assess the situation and just have to assess it game to game."
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has hinted that Ugochukwu could well be recalled in January. For now he is focusing on his side's trip down to the South Coast as they look to close the gap on leaders Liverpool.
"I have no idea at the moment," Maresca said when asked about Ugochukwu's situation. "I have no idea about the loans, about the transfer window. Before January, I think we have seven Premier League games. It's too many games to be thinking about that.
"We need to be ready, otherwise it will be a bad day for us. The reason why, because if you analyse the results, they're probably there [bottom of the league] but in terms of performance, they were winning against Liverpool, they lost against City 1-0, they drew with Brighton.
"The way they have played since last year because I was in the Championship with Southampton last year, I know them quite well. They are very brave and it is very clear what they want; they want to keep the ball and we want the same, and it will be, for sure, a tough, tough game and we need to be ready."
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