According to reports Sofiane Boufal could be on his way out of St Mary's in the next week after falling out with Mark Hughes at the end of last season and a return to France could be in the offing.

Sofiane Boufal played his last game for Saints last term in the debacle against West Ham on the final day of March and his season for Saints was over only two games into Mark Hughes reign after a subsequent fall out with the new manager.

Hughes appointment on a permanent basis could perhaps spell the end of Boufal's time at the club, although it looks like his departure initially at least will be temporary with Saints struggling to find a club that will be able to match the wages that he is on at St Mary's.

Media supports though are suggesting that he will be heading back to France with Nice his destination although Marseille are said to be also interested.

Departing on loan might not be the end of his Saints career, that will depend on how well Mark Hughes does in the coming season, but it looks like as long as Hughes is manager Boufal won't be in his squad.

A sad state of affairs because although his career has never taken off at St Mary's it has not always been as bad as the statistics suggest and his problems could be said to stem as much from the fact that Claude Puel, Mauricio Pellegrino and finally Mark Hughes seemed unable to find a role in the team in which he could flourish, with Dusan Tadic a virtual ever present there wasn't the scope for two flair players in the team and in his time at the club with their rarely being a target man for him to aim at and the tactics not suiting him he just could not find consistency.

However he showed at times what he could do and his 4 goals for the club were all corkers and certainly his spectacular run resulting in the late winner against West Brom could be said to be the one goal of the season that kept Saints up.

Ultimately he will probably go down in the History books as being symptomatic of the two seasons we have just endured, however that was more down to the managers in charge and their tactics than any skill or indeed lack of effort at least for most of the time on Boufal's part.

Photo: Action Images

RogerToye added 09:27 - Jul 20 i would keep him needs to learn about attitude and give him a chance to change Tadic gone he can be used in a number ten role . one thing if he does go it will be party time with or without him
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helpineedsomebody added 10:46 - Jul 20 he has the talent has mr average manager got the skill to get the best out of him BOTH OF THEM WILL HAVE TO CHANGE THEIR ATTITUDE we simply have not got many attacking options, but the 1st game of the season if he plays 8 at the back then we know it will be a counter attacking system so do you need a very expensive centre forward YES WE DO WHY becouse charles will be in sick bay after 10 games . by signing a goal scoring forward takes a huge amount of pressure off the team goals wins games .

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Boxingman75 added 11:04 - Jul 20 I'm glad you acknoweled that the 3 points boufal won us with that goal against park the bus Albion were vital , we were never going to score that day , shame he seems to be on the way out , but he hasn't been very consistent and if he has a bad attitude then fair enough i say , AND WE DONT NEED A STRIKER , why is everyone banging on about it , we have 6 , fair enough if we offload a few but think about it , we will be playing 1 upfront , so can choose from , gabbiadini , Austin , long , Gallagher , the new guy Mo has played upfront regular as well , plus josh sims has played there for the under 23s , so there's 5 who won't start , why do we need another , gabbiadini will be solid given the right service

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DPeps added 11:31 - Jul 20 Boufal does something that none of our other players can do: he runs with the ball. On that basis we should keep him, or if we are going to get rid we need a replacement who can drive forwards with the ball. Dunno if Mo can do that
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davepid added 13:31 - Jul 20 DPeps. Yes he could run with the ball but not always towards the opposition, in my experience. There is a promotional video he did of himself out on u tube. Even in that, the material used is pretty thin and included some dribbling moves in which he ultimately lost control of the ball. As for the West Brom Keystone cops goal. Yes superb but given we finished three points above Swansea and 5 above WBA I don’t see how it could have kept us up.

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ItchenNorth added 13:53 - Jul 20 A real shame that an off the field issue has created this situation. He was one player that could unlock something out of nothing. His work rate was excellent as well. He was not one of those flair / luxury players that didn't track back. We just needed to see more from him going forward and that imo, would have come if played as a number 10 regularly, but a weak team under Pellegrino meant the shackles could never come off.

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montecristo added 14:38 - Jul 20 Im really not happy with the way that the club has handed Boufal. There could be a language problem, I dont know, but it wouldnt surprise me.He did ok under the only french speaking manager we had, except that the style of play did not really suit him. The other issue is the fans attitude towards him he has exceptional ball dribbling talent but all too many seem to want a hoof it approach to football which went out in the seventies.As for his fallout with Hughes . What does Hughes expect? He has to be frustrated, the team was crap last year and he still couldnt get a game, Hughes comes along changes little and Boufal is still out in the cold. Id refuse to warm up as well under those circumstances. He needs and deserves another chance.

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BoondockSaint added 14:48 - Jul 20 If it wasn't an involuntary body function, Boufal wouldn't pass gas. He thinks he's the only quality player on the pitch at any time, and seems to hold his team mates in contempt. As davepid mentions, that goal against West Brom was a result of their awful defending (and him refusing to pass). Unfortunately, that goal made him think he could do it against every team.

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Sanguin added 15:45 - Jul 20 He was an incredibly frustrating player to watch, he never seemed to quite be capable of what you felt he should be. I just hope that we manage to recoup some of what we paid for him. We’ve had too many expensive flops recently.
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elisawise added 07:33 - Jul 23 I dont know, but it wouldnt surprise me.He did ok under the only french speaking manager we had, except that the style of play did not really suit him. https://spanishto-english.com/spanish-dictionary
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