Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl has tipped Southampton and Ghana defender Mohammed Salisu for stardom despite a very difficult start to his saints career.

He says the center back will be a big player for Southampton in the near future despite waiting for six months before making his debut after his summer arrival from Real Valladolid.

Salisu moved to the Saint Mary's stadium in the summer from Real Valladolid for 12 million euros but had to wait for a long time before making his debut in February 2021 in an FA Cup match against Wolves.

Since then, the 22-year-old has been a regular among the matchday squad, making 11 appearances in total. The latest of those came after being introduced as an early substitute to play 75 minutes of Saints' 1-1 draw with Leicester City on Friday night, following the dismissal of Jannik Vestergaard.

Asked if he feels Salisu is on track after his first nine months in England, boss Hasenhuttl, who has often described the defender as a "long-term project", told the Daily Echo: "Absolutely. I must say he has at the moment, like two other guys also, a problem with the Ramadan where they have during the day not a lot of things to eat.

"Then you are thinking is it possible for him to fight 90 minutes hard? But on Friday he showed that he is able to do it.

"We had the break for drinking (during the game) after the sun goes down and then he was there.

"He was unbelievable, fighting for this team and congrats to this performance."

Discussing Salisu's potential to have even more of an impact next season, Hasenhuttl added: "I think against the ball he has big strength.

"With the ball he can still improve and get better, but I think this is also a part of the game that we are working hard with him on it. Finally I am sure that for us he will be a big player in the future."

Although he came on as a sub against Leicester, Salisu had made his fifth Premier League start the previous week, playing the full 90 minutes out of position at left-back in a 2-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.

But he reverted to his more natural position of centre-back against the Foxes, with Jack Stephens filling in on the left in the absence of the injured Ryan Bertrand.