BBC Radio Solent Sports Editor Adam Blackmore has said that Mario Lemina can go onto replace Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg at the club.
Blackmore was recently talking about the club on the Total Saints Podcast (published March 22). During that, he was asked about Lemina’s future at the club. Blackmore said that if the former Juventus man can ‘be the player we all know’ he can be, the Saints should not ‘worry’ about selling Hojbjerg in the near future (42:15).
He described Lemina as a ‘heck of a player’ and sees the midfielder as someone who can ‘disrupt the game’ in the heart of the park.
Loaned out to Galatasaray
26-year-old Lemina was loaned out to Galatasaray in the previous summer transfer window, despite links with a move to Manchester United and Arsenal.
For the Turkish side, Lemina has played 17 Super Lig games this season. He has not scored a single goal and hasn’t picked up a single assist. But he does have a tally of one goal in the cup and also played four games in the UEFA Champions League.
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Lemina was at Southampton last season and in the 2017-18 season. In the previous season, the midfielder had made 21 Premier League appearances, while scoring once and assisting once. He had picked up a Whoscored rating of 6.85.
The 2017-18 campaign had seen him play 25 games and pick up one goal and one assist again. He had a Whoscored rating of 6.93.
Lemina’s season ratings show that his two campaigns at Southampton weren’t overly impressive. While Hojbjerg has been linked with a move to Tottenham, Lemina’s ratings prove that he would have to improve to replace the Danish midfielder in the future.