Former Southampton defender Kevin Danso has that his loan at Saints a few years ago was ‘the most difficult moment’ of his career.
The Austrian centre back spent the 19/20 season on loan at Southampton from German Bundesliga side Augsburg, after being brought in by former Saints manager Ralph Hassenhuttl, with both being from Austria.
He struggled to settle at Saints though, and would only go on to make six appearances as Saints finished in eleventh place in the top flight, ending up only seven points off a place in Europe.
Danso on spell with Saints
Speaking to 90Football, relayed by French outlet La Voix du Nord, Danso spoke of his troubled time at St Mary’s.
“The most difficult moment of my career. It was a very complicated period for me. I was 20-21. It was the first time I was faced with adversity. The confidence was going. You start telling yourself that maybe you’re not good enough. When you want to be the best, that’s tough to deal with.”
The verdict
This is not surprising to hear from Danso.
He struggled to get game time, with plenty of competition at centre back at the time, with the likes of Maya Yoshida, Jannik Vestergaard, Jack Stephens and Jan Bednarek all ahead of him in the pecking order.
Only being 20/21 years old at the time, it was always going to be tough for Danso to adapt to life in England.
Luckily for him though he has not let it affect his career, as he then has a successful season out on loan at Düsseldorf the following season, before moving to his current club RC Lens in the French Ligue 1.
He has now become a top centre back in France, and helped Lens claim Champions League football for the first time last season.