When Southampton broke a club record £16m to sign Sofiane Boufal from French club Lille, many fans had already highlighted the Moroccan’s talent.
However, things didn’t go to plan for the 23-year-old in his first season for the Saints as he struggled to make an impression under former manager Claude Puel.
Being an experienced manager in Ligue 1, Puel had noted Boufal’s performances and progress as the winger started his professional career for Angers. But like many players that come from foreign leagues, it’s certainly not time to panic over the lack of Boufal’s development in the Premier League.
After been handed his first start for Southampton in the league cup against Sunderland, Boufal showed his brilliance with a curling effort into the top right hand corner. It was a goal that Arjen Robben would have been proud of.
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That goal was enough to see his team go through to the next round and be part of the Saints road to Wembley only to fall at the final hurdle. Despite this moment of magic, Boufal still couldn’t win over his manager and spent most his time in his first season with the club on the bench.
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In December, he scored another winning goal in a 1-0 win against Middlesbrough in the league with a great strike from outside the box. Once again though, Puel wasn’t totally convinced and playing the full 90 minutes became a rarity for the player until the end of the season.
With Puel’s sacking after just one season at the club, Boufal won’t be too displeased to see the back of the Frenchman but what does he have to do to make an impression on new manager Mauricio Pellegrino?
Well despite the low centre of gravity and pure skill Boufal has, he needs to show a great work ethic off the ball. This was a key attribute that Sadio Mane possessed and saw him become one of the best players in the league in his position.
The great news for Boufal is that he should be hopeful of starting the season injury-free and raring to go after recovering from a knee injury this time last year. This means that he is in a better state of mind both physically and mentally and can propel himself and his team to great heights this season.