If you had asked Russell Martin at the start of the summer whether Armel Bella-Kotchap and Kamaldeen Sulemana would have been Southampton players come September you would likely have only got one answer.
Southampton spent a club record fee to sign Kamaldeen Sulemana in January 2023 and thought they had finally managed to offload the £22 million flop last week with a loan-to-buy deal agreed with Ajax.
However, FIFA determined that the transfer was not finalised ahead of the transfer deadline in the Netherlands, meaning Sulemana returned to Southampton.
Armel Bella-Kotchap was left similarly disappointed as a £12.8 million move to Hoffenheim fell through after an issue was picked up in his medical.
Russell Martin has therefore been left with two talented but unwanted players that he now has to manage in an already large squad.
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Russell Martin keeps door open for Southampton pair Armel Bella-Kotchap and Kamaldeen Sulemena
Another player who Southampton have been trying to shift this summer is Paul Onuachu and there is still hope a move to Turkey can happen with the transfer window closing there on Friday.
For Sulemana and Bella-Kotchap, though, it appears any chances of a move are dead and Martin was asked how he now reintegrates the pair in his pre-Manchester United press-conference.
Martin explained: “By making sure the door is always open for them. That they train well with the team.
“We try and adapt and be flexible with the training to make sure we can account for all the numbers, but there will be days where they will be very frustrated and we have to just train with the squad.
“Otherwise, it’s just too many. And again, treat them with respect and get them in every training session -or as many as we can – and with full attention on them at times when the starting guys don’t need it so much.
“We’ll try and balance it in the best way possible but they’ll get everything from us and that’s all we ever ask in return from them and then there’ll never, ever be a problem.”
Despite his comments suggesting neither player would feature moving forward, Martin did add that they could earn a recall, saying: “Then maybe one or two surprises can get back in the squad or the team and then maybe they don’t.”
Russell Martin has difficult task of managing large Southampton squad
Martin currently has 30 first-team players, so it is easy to see why the sales of Onuachu, Bella-Kotchap and Sulemana would have been useful for Southampton.
That is simply too many players for Martin to keep happy and he may have to make some difficult decisions.
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Already this season we have seen the likes of Ronnie Edwards, Ryan Manning and Nathan Wood miss out on the match day squad in the Premier League and there will continue to be a number of unhappy players left out each week.
Bella-Kotchap and Sulemana are both very talented players who have lost their way somewhat.
However, should they get their heads down and work hard, then there is no reason they could not earn a place in the Saints squad between now and January.