This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
After arriving at St Mary’s with the title of the Premier League’s final signing of the summer window to his name, Kevin Danso was somewhat of an unknown quantity.
Signed on a season-long loan from Bundesliga side FC Augsburg, the 21-year-old defender – who shares Austrian nationality with his club manager Ralph Hasenhuttl – didn’t make an appearance until the third Premier League game of the campaign against Brighton.
Before his next outing in England’s top-flight – a tie against Manchester United at St Mary’s – Hasenhuttl showered the youngster with praise, with The Mirror stating that the former RB Leipzig boss viewed Danso as key to getting any kind of result against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.
“He showed from the first day he was here that he knows how to defend. He knows how to play football and, physically, has very good options. He is very quick and also good at jumping for headers. At this age, he is very experienced because he played a lot of games in Germany and this signing was a really good one.”
However, despite that initial optimism from the Saints manager, he appears to have gone cold on Danso if recent events are anything to go by.
The former MK Dons youth player hasn’t played a single minute of action since the 2-1 defeat to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on the 2nd November, appearing for just 15 minutes in that particular match.
Forget not playing a single minute – Danso has only been involved in two of Hasenhuttl’s five matchday squads since that trip to Manchester, managing to make the bench for the 2-1 defeat to Everton and the 2-1 win over Norwich, but failing to even be amongst the substitutes in the 2-2 draw against Arsenal, the 2-1 win over Watford as well as the most recent outing, a 2-1 loss to Newcastle.
There is clearly something that Hasenhuttl sees in his fellow Austrian, or else he wouldn’t have signed him nor would he have spoken so glowingly about him before the game against Manchester United.
However, what does seem apparent is that the 52-year-old has gone cold on his deadline day signing, and we can only sit and wonder what the reason for that might be.
In other news, Matt Crocker’s first project as Southampton’s Director of Football looks to be on the table after a development regarding this 17-year-old prospect…
