The Saints boss spoke about the Ghanaian in his team news ahead of Tuesday’s FA Cup encounter with Shrewsbury Town
Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl has rued his side's injury situation as he is set to be without Ghanaian defender Mohammed Salisu and a host of others in Tuesday's FA Cup clash with Shrewsbury Town.
Aside from the young centre-back, The Saints will have to do without Will Smallbone, Danny Ings, Jannik Vestergaard, Oriol Romeu, Nathan Redmond and Moussa Djenepo for the third round cup fixture at St. Mary's.
On the search for his debut since sealing a four-year transfer from Spanish outfit Real Valladolid, Salisu has been in the treatment room since making the bench for a 0-0 draw with West Ham United in December.
“Not on Tuesday [against Shrewsbury], definitely not, but maybe on Saturday,” Hasenhuttl said of the possibility of having his injured men in the FA Cup tie, his club's official website reports. “The earliest return will be Ingsy, then Moussa maybe, with Ori and Reddy also in this group.
“Then maybe Jannik, but that can be in February, and Salisu is still longer out with a muscle injury.
“We have some problems at the moment with muscle injuries and there are some reasons I think that are responsible for this.
“We are in a fantastic building here but we cannot use anything [due to Covid-19]. We cannot use our cryo chamber, the sauna, the pool, nothing, and we still have the same games with the same intensity.
“We are also limited in eating here together, so everything is not what we normally do in professional football, and there are reasons why we do it normally, so it’s not so surprising in some moments you have more injuries.
“It will be a mixed group tomorrow – some guys who have to play, because there are not a lot of alternatives, and some young guys will have to step in and show what they have shown in the sessions: that they are developing their game and deserve to get a chance to play.”
Salisu made Southampton's matchday squad for the first time during the December clash with Brighton & Hove Albion and went on to make five further bench appearances during the month.
His delayed debut has been due to injury and match fitness concerns.
After sealing the transfer in August, he joined Southampton’s pre-season training a month later, in the week of commencement of the Premier League. It would take him three more months to make a matchday squad.