Much of the talk on Saints social media over the past few weeks has been about the players that left the club, but Russell Martin has been more keen to talk about those who are here.

Kamaldeen Sulemana was the club's record signing back in January, but although he showed some good form at some points in his first few months at the club, truth is he was nowhere near the level he should have been either in quality or consistency.

Even though he scored in the final game of the season, there was the feeling that that game against Liverpool was more a friendly than a tough Premier League clash.

Now Russell Martin has been talking to Hampshire Live about how surprised but happy he is that the Ghanian is still at the club.

"He’s been really great with us since he’s come back on the training pitch,” said Martin. “I think he understands what we want from him now. He has clarity on what we expect on the pitch and what we expect of it, in terms of how he is. The first time I ever spoke to Kamaldeen when I first took this job was on the phone.

"I was really impressed by how intelligent he is and how much he thinks about the game. At that point, I am pretty sure that both of us didn’t expect him to be here. I’m really grateful that he is and we are really lucky that he is.

"As you saw on Saturday, he’s an incredible talent. I genuinely believe he can probably play wherever he wants at some point in his career if he puts everything that he has in the right place and in the right direction.

"It is up to us to help him do that, to help him understand the potential he has and to help him understand what he needs to do consistently to play at the top level.

"He has all the potential and all the attributes to do that. We need to make sure that he is a big player for us by keeping him fit, by making him really understand what is expected of him and by turning him into the best teammate that he can possibly be.

"On Saturday, he added so much value to the team going forward but also defensively. It’s the best he has been, so he needs to kick on from here now,"

Sulemana was announced as the man of the match at St Mary's on Saturday, that surprised a lot of those present, most I spoke to thought that either Adam Armstrong, Kyle Walker Peters or Jan Bednarek were more deserving.

However as i have always maintained sometimes it is not about how much you do, but the parts of the game when you make a difference and certainly Sulemana did that with the well weighted pull back for Will Smallbone to slot home the second and then the through ball to Adam Armstrong to make it three.

Certainly I think Saints are not short of options going forward, some may mourn the sale of Nathan Tella, but I think Sulemana is better and we also have other attacking options.

We showed that we can defend against Leeds, if we keep doing that, then Sulemana might well get a lot more chances to shine and truly dominate games.

Photo: Action Images

Bowlercow added 18:42 - Oct 2 Russ if you aren't going to play him in every game please keep him just for the home games and close the doors to all other club's scouts be
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WestSussexSaint added 19:01 - Oct 2 If he keeps playing like Saturday he will be gone in the January window so let’s make the most of him while he is with us.
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IanRC added 10:00 - Oct 3 Please let us hang on to him and Alcaraz then we may be able to compete properly. I gather he is not fully fit yet so more to come hopefully.
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SaintPaulVW added 11:50 - Oct 3 He played a blinder on Saturday. However, ee've all seen loads of players who play well one week and then are just not consistent. Hopefully this is the start of showing his value rather than his potential.
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