As Southampton fans, you’ll be fully aware of the recent problems within the squad involving Sofiane Boufal, and may have noticed the young forward hasn’t featured in a match day squad since the 3-2 loss against Chelsea.
We’ve already covered what has been reported in France about it, with claims of a falling out with the squad and the manager, followed by an apology being accepted by Mark Hughes only for certain players to allegedly ask the board to block his return to the first-team.
With the season now over and the transfer window just around the corner, Boufal has a bit more free time, which he used to give an interview to Breaking Foot in France on SFR Sport, where he was directly asked about his issues at Southampton this year.
He said: “Listen, I’d love to tell you but I don’t think it’s the right time nor the right place to say everything on this, but with Southampton and the board, there aren’t any issues.
“There was a decision. There was, unfortunately, a little misunderstanding between the club and myself. These days, I’m under contract, but things have been sorted with the club and the manager.”
Used quite a lot by Mauricio Pellegrino during the Argentinian’s time in charge, Boufal saw his time reduced drastically as soon as Mark Hughes arrived, even before the so-called “misunderstanding”.
As to why that was, he said: “I was at the manager’s disposal. Unfortunately, he didn’t choose to use me that much. It’s his choice, I respect it. Personally, I have a good relationship with him. There’s no issues. It’s just, professionally speaking, I was there to be used and he didn’t.”
All this has inevitably led to rumours of an exit from St Mary’s for Boufal, and the 24-year-old, in the same interview, didn’t hide the fact he would be for trying something new after two rather frustrating years at Southampton.
