£23.5m midfielder dropped again – but might have turned his season around with second half duels | OneFootball

It’s always hard to predict how loans will go, and Lesley Ugochukwu’s loan to Southampton is a perfect example.

An experienced (for his age), physical, defensive midfielder with tons of quality going to a team that likes to play football but is expected to be defending a lot – sounds like a perfect match, right? Instead, the France Under-21 international has barely featured for the Saints.

He’s been in and out, had a strop on social media, and has generally been caught up in the bleak season at St Mary’s. Enzo Maresca was even asked about a potential recall at the start of this month.

Despite their troubles at the bottom of the table, he was never really fancied by Russell Martin. New man Ivan Juric picked his first team today, and Ugochukwu was still on the bench. That was particularly damning given fellow central midfielder Flynn Downes was also out.

However, things might be looking up.

Ugochukwu shows new boss what he can do in impressive 40 minute appearance

Lesley Ugochukwu controls midfield against Crystal Palace.

After a poor first half from Southampton against Crystal Palace, Ugochukwu came on in the second period and really changed the balance of the game. He won duels and really helped his team get a foothold in the game. From 48% possession in the first half, they jumped to 60% in the second half.

A team without Downes or Ugochukwu looked just so easy to play through.

You can see his highlights from the game in the clip embedded here:

We hope that the time he was on the pitch has convinced Juric that getting the best out of Ugochukwu could be key to turning around this side’s fortunes. A few more performances like this and the former Roma boss will surely start to see the light in a way that Martin never did.