Southampton midfielder Mario Lemina looked set to put his 2019 injury troubles behind him as he returned to training and rebuilt his fitness ahead of coming back into manager Ralph Hasenhuttl’s thoughts for first team contention.
The 25-year-old hasn’t featured since the turn of the New Year after suffering an abdominal issue that subsequently required minor surgery, and unfortunately ahead of the clash on Friday evening against Liverpool at St Mary’s Stadium, our Austrian gaffer confirmed that he had suffered a setback.
Niggly issues during his recovery have been a problem so far, but quoted by the Daily Echo at the end of last week, Hasenhuttl said the problems he was experiencing were par for the course given his lengthy time on the sidelines and furthermore, he remained very confident fans would see the Gabon international back on the pitch before the end of the current 2018/19 season.
“I’m sure we will see him again. This part is not the worst injury now but it’s normal if you have such a long break like he did you make movements not 100 per cent in the right direction and then you can feel every muscle and so we have to pay attention and that’s why we try to rise the impact of this training intensity step-by-step. Then you maybe have to take a step back so not a higher risk. We will see him again this year for sure.”
If he could quickly get back to his best form, he’d certainly be an asset as we continue to battle to avoid the drop.
