Right at the end of the summer transfer window, it was announced that Kazeem Olaigbe would be leaving Southampton and signing for Cercle Brugge.
The young forward had arrived from Anderlecht four years prior, going straight into the Saints’ U18 squad, but his time at St Mary’s never saw him step onto the pitch for the first-team.
This, according to the player himself in an interview with DH in Belgium, is why he chose to leave Southampton this summer, opting for a return to a country he knows well.
He has since played eight times for Cercle Brugge, with just the one start, but it’s still far more than he got with the Saints, who had sent him on loan the past season, first to Ross County and then to Harrogate Town.
Asked about the decision to leave Southampton, Olaigbe said: “I needed to really test myself as a professional and prove to myself that I could do it. Southampton didn’t want to give me a chance in the first-team, so I wanted to leave.”
With that in mind, the outlet also asked him if he regretted swapping Anderlecht for the now Championship club back in 2019, but he assured them he made the right choice.
He added: “I will never have regrets, because each step allows you to grow and all the work accomplished will pay off one day or another. In England, I learned to develop physically, to be more aggressive, but also to behave very professionally: eat well, go to sleep early, etc…”
While out on loan in Scotland with Ross County, Olaigbe made 25 appearances, scored two goals and assisted another one, while his stint at Harrogate Town saw him find the back of the net three times and assist five goals in 19 games.
