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KRC Genk manager Wouter Vrancken has admitted he recently spoke to Southampton striker Paul Onuachu, although his move to the Saints was not up for discussion.

The manager revealed the conversation with the striker in a recent conversation with Het Belang van Limburg about their season and Onuachu’s departure in the January transfer window.

The striker was the Belgian side’s top goal scorer this season and a key player under Vrancken but departed for Southampton at the end of the January transfer window as they bolstered their squad for the fight against relegation.

That was a deal Genk would have preferred not to sanction, with it recently revealed they had been forced to accept thanks to Onuachu personally requesting the switch.

It’s a deal that hasn’t worked out for either party as yet, with Genk very much missing their former star and Onuachu yet to get any sort of opportunities at Southampton.

And it seems he is missing his former club, phoning manager Vrancken to speak about them and his old teammates.

“A whole game has been made around that. As if Genk is no longer allowed to talk about Onuachu,” he said.

“The reality is simple: it is normal that you miss someone who has scored 18 goals. But is that a problem? No. We do not think in problems, but in solutions.

“Whether he regrets moving to England? We didn’t talk about that. He just wanted to know how the boys were doing here. A typical Onuachu phone call. In his own timid way.”