Former Southampton youngster Kazeem Olaigbe has claimed he was not given a chance whilst at St Mary’s.
The 20-year-old left Saints in the summer after four years on the south coast, moving back to his homeland of Belgium to join Cercle Brugge in the top flight.
He has so far made eight appearances in the Belgian Pro League since his arrival, scoring one goal.
Predominantly a player for the U21 and U18 sides whilst at Southampton, he also spent time out on loan, spending the first half of last season in the Scottish Premiership with Ross County, and spending the second half of last season in League Two with Harrogate Town.
Olaigbe on leaving Saints
Speaking to Belgian outlet DH, Olaigbe opened up on why he wanted to leave Saints, and claimed that they ‘didn’t give him a chance’.
“I needed to really test myself as a professional and prove to myself that I could do it. Southampton didn’t want to give me a chance in the first team, so I wanted to leave.”
“I will never have regrets, because each step allows you to grow and all the work accomplished will pay off one day or another. In England, I learned to develop physically, to be more aggressive, but also to behave very professionally: eat well, go to sleep early, etc…”
Saints will hope 20-year-old doesn’t turn into something special
Whilst it did not end as well as Olaigbe would have hoped, he clearly learned a lot from his time with Saints.
He will be happy now that he is getting regular first-team football in his home country.
Southampton and Russell Martin will be hoping they have not missed out on a potentially very good player whilst they had the chance to develop him themselves.