Kamaldeen Sulemana came to life in the final game of the Premier League season for Saints, two goals and a spectacular somersault celebration finally announced his arrival at St Mary's , four months after joining, but then complete silence.

One of the big questions in the summer transfer window for Saints supporters was whether Kamaldeen Sulemana would stay or go, there was no sign of him in any of the pre season friendlies and more to the point no real updates on whether he was injured or otherwise.

Indeed up until the final week or so of the window, there was little talk of any club's really being interested in him, presumably shy of paying not only the £25 million that Southampton wanted to get their money back on their January investment or of paying his wages.

Everton were rumoured to be after him, but that fell though with little real fanfare.

So now the big question is whether the Ghanian is ready and willing to knuckle down and help Saints get back into the Premier League.

Russell Martin has spoken to The Daily Echo about his first sightings of Sulemana.

"I'm really excited to try and get Kamaldeen back on the pitch as quickly as possible, we only saw him for literally two training sessions and he got injured.

“In one of them I nearly fell over when he was dribbling he was that quick - he’s an exciting talent."

Undoubtably he showed enough in glimpses last season that he can be a real talent, but the question is whether attitude is holding him back, Saints have been coy about his whereabouts since the team returned to training at the start of July, no real mention was made of his injury and he failed to make an appearance pre season.

That led to Southampton supporters asking whether the player was actually injured at all, rumours of a clique in the squad formed by the African contingent did the rounds and talk was that certain players did not want to stay at the club and had been training away from the main squad.

Certainly Sulemana has not been prominent in either his appearances in pictures of training up until a week or so ago, or for that matter in the media.

Undoubtably if he gets his head around the fact that he is in the Championship for the time being and concentrates on improving his game, then he can be a force to be reckoned with, he only showed glimpses last season and only clicked in that final game against Liverpool, but that in many respects was a glorified kick around, now he has the chance to get to grips with the game in England, and toughen himself up physically and mentally, so that when he does get back into the Premier League, this time he makes a true impact.

Nathan Tella is an example, in truth when he went on loan to Burnley a year ago, many were not bothered, here was a player with just the one goal in the Premier League, he too had shown glimpses, but never any real consistency, but the Championship turned him into a different player.

Let's hope that Kamaldeen Sulemana is ready to play for Saints, the club has been right to keep him on a low profile whatever the reason for his absence, but now is the time of reckoning, will he or won't he commit to Southampton, if only for the short term.

Photo: Action Images

Bowlercow added 10:39 - Sep 7 So much depends on his attitude and how much he wants to play as opposed to training all week for no game His pace will make him a star even in the PL but especially on the championship
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A1079 added 11:11 - Sep 7 On the rare occasion I have seen him play I have always thought he could be quite a prospect and make a difference. I think he could make a real impact at Championship level for us if a. he gets picked enough to show his potential and b. he has the right attitude - I am not sure which comes first. The thing he needs to understand is this, perform and give your all and come the end of the season you may find yourself next playing in the PL either with us or someone else. I would like to see him given a chance at this level.

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Saintaxidriver added 11:35 - Sep 7 Footballers even at this level are obscenely overpaid and not sure if it is the issue but if he or any other player doesn't do what they get paid for then they should have their wages cut. When times are hard for many of us they should be grateful for what they have and knuckle down and get on with it! Rant over!
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SaintPaulVW added 11:53 - Sep 7 Just a quicker Djenepo/Boufal atm. Still needs that regular killer final ball. Great prospect just hope he has the right attitude to still keep developing his game.
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Boris1977 added 12:00 - Sep 7 Good article nick and attitude seems to be the main stumbling block. Do we have more of these types of player than other clubs ? I thought the famous/infamous black box was supposed to pick up and detail the players attitude as well as their playing stats etc.
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DPeps added 12:22 - Sep 7 Truth is that we don't really know what his attitude is like. It's all hearsay so far. In his defence he was bought by one manager and then he was sacked so he didn't get as many chances. He could be another Mane, he could not, but let's give him a chance. My main concern is how does KS fit into Martin's slow, possession based build up style?
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Jesus_02 added 12:41 - Sep 7 he is a footballer. He has worked hard to get where he is. Put him on the pitch regularly and he will play. He wouldnt have got this far if he didnt want to play footabll,
2

halftimeorange added 13:38 - Sep 7 Sulemana is in nearly every picture of training on the Saints website from 5 September and he looks aggressive. If he doesn't want to play for Saints at least till the January window then he's a fool because he knows what Saints want for him and there'll be little interest at the price if he doesn't appear in the shop window. It could be that he doesn't fit in with Martin's ball retention philosophy' in which case he won't get picked whatever skills he displays in training.

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IanRC added 14:49 - Sep 7 I really hope he gives it a go for us as he could make all the difference if he applies himself.
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Monksway added 15:21 - Sep 7 We are all hoping that he'll be as good as the price tag I guess but I'm yet to be convinced. Lots of questions at the moment about who plays where in RM's first choice team. I think Saints had anticipated on both Sulana and KWP leaving during the window. That would make Manning the inverted full back and Holgate shuffling across from right back to make a three with Harwood- Bellis and Stephens. If that's still the plan KWP has move up to right wing back/ midfield. Not sure where Slulemana plays unless a replacement for Edozie.

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Block8 added 17:12 - Sep 7 You quote Tella as not being consistent but it's very difficult to show consistency in cameo performances! Sulemana suffered from this too but I sincerely hope he knuckles down and gets the chance to show us his ability. Whether this happens is also down to Russel Martin, we have good wingers why they should drop back to allow the full backs to bomb on is beyond me.
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Redrum added 18:13 - Sep 7 Why on earth are players bought for £18m and £25m but not considered good to play regularly in the first team? It's crazy!
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underweststand added 18:54 - Sep 7 Most of us seem to share the same opinion (reading above) and I don't think we saw enough of him to make a real judgement last season but he certainly looks a class above Championship and his dribbling and possession skills are very impressive. We lack some of these talents in our new (young) squad. If we play him regularly and are still around the top six by New Year we might be seen as real contenders for promotion. Once back up again, he might decide to stay, and surely a more few Prem. sides (other than Everton) will be watching him and the club's recently quoted 30 million valuation might begin to sound a bit low for an emerging talent on the up.

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