Ralph Hasenhuttl has spoken about Mohammed Salisu and given an update on the defender's progress, but there is still no real information on what the "Other Issues" are, that are keeping him from making his debut.
Mohammed Salisu has been pictured in training with Saints now for at least a month, but he is still no nearer being in contention for a place in the squad.
Strangely since his signing over three months ago now there has been little official news on Salisu, not even the token picture of his holding the shirt to announce his arrival.
We all knew that he was injured when he arrived, anyone could have looked that up online and seen he missed the last few games of the season in Spain, we knew that missing pre season training due to not only injury but the need to quarantine would mean that he would struggle to be fit until October, but as the situation drags on with no real explanations given, Saints fans are wondering what is happening.
Ralph Hasenhuttl had this to say yesterday.
"He was training all the time with us and is doing more and more duels and everything," said Hasenhuttl.
"We must have a look to see how his body reacts now. There is still a way to go, I think, for being match fit.
"But I am very keen that he was, for at minimum two weeks now, a part of the sessions."
"He is a calm guy and is physically a very strong guy who shows, on the ball, the calmness we need to bring the decision making.
"He is still learning what we want to do here. It is not so easy as how we defend is not easy.
"I am happy he is here. He is a long term project and I am sure he will play a lot of games for Southampton."
These are fine words from Ralph, but to be blunt they are almost identical to the update he gave a month ago ahead of the game against Everton and that in itself was an update on the managers comments back in September when he said that Salisu would be fit to play after the October International break.
Ralph says he has been part of the sessions for two weeks, but the truth is has appeared in pictures of the training sessions for a lot longer than that.
Given that Salisu's original injury was a muscle pull sustained over 4 months ago now and he has been able to train for at least two of those months as confirmed by Ralph when he gave his prediction of an October comeback as well as pictures on the club website, why is he still not fit and played any games in the B side to get him match fit.
What are the "other issues" that keep being mentioned but never explained ?
The club need to get a hold on the situation and be pro active with it, it may be the right thing to do to keep the Other issues private and behind closed doors, but that doesn't mean that the club cannot keep fans informed.
Why have their been no interviews with the player on the club official website ? An injury should not stop the club media speaking to the player and let the fans know a little more about him both as a player and as a person.
The fact that it is left to Ralph to just repeat himself once a month without really giving any details, only heightens the suspicion of the fans and let's be honest we like a good conspiracy theory down here when it comes to Southampton Football Club.
So why haven't the club nailed this one down and stopped rumours before they can start, two months ago the rumour mongerers were stopped in their tracks, even last month's update seemed plausible, but now to find he is no nearer, despite having seen him training will start the tongus wagging.
Yes this article will not help in this point, but I have been reasonable and managed expectations in my own monthly comment, but now I am starting to wonder what is going on and what are the "Other Issues" that keep being slipped into Ralph's own comments, when really there is no reason to mention them.