Arriving at Southampton from Lille with the pressure of being the club’s most expensive purchase, Sofiane Boufal’s first season in the Premier League hasn’t gone to plan.
Landing in England with a knee injury that kept him out for five months, the Morocco international has had to make do with sporadic appearances in Claude Puel’s first-team, as the former Nice manager takes his time to help the player acclimatise himself with the rigours of English football.
The forward has only made 20 appearances in all competitions for Southampton’s first team this season, scoring two goals and picking up one assist, and one thing is for sure: the best is yet to come.
Called up to his national team for the current international break, Boufal gave an interview to beIN Sport in France, where he discussed his first six months or so in the Premier League.
He said, relayed by SFR Sport: “The Premier League is a league that suits me, and the fans are soon going to see the real me. I’m sure of it. There’s more discipline in England, it’s a lot more work.
“We work a lot more. The mentality is completely different. Referees tend to let the play go on, to not blow their whistle too much. In France, refs protect players like me, but here, they don’t at all.”
With both his goals being spectacular strikes, the 23-year-old has already shown glimpses here and there of what he can do when given time on the ball, but he is yet to find the consistency he displayed at the beginning of last season when he was practically carrying Lille on his own.
As he said, though, expect to see that at St Mary’s very soon.
