TALK about one El of a turnaround.
Mohamed Elyounoussi was so far out in the cold at Southampton he was in danger of frostbite.
Yet after two seasons on loan at Celtic, the Norwegian has now surprisingly returned to the fold under Ralph Hasenhuttl and become one of his key players.
Elyounoussi helped Saints beat Leeds 1-0 last weekend to land their first league victory of the season.
Amazingly, it was the playmaker’s maiden win at St Mary’s, coming 1,205 days after he first signed for the club.
When informed of the staggering statistic by SunSport, Elyounoussi replied: “Wow, I didn’t know that. Please don’t make that the headline!
“If you look at the number of days, obviously I didn’t play a lot and I wasn’t here (when on loan at Celtic).
“You always go into the game thinking you’re going to win. It was nice to win.
“But maybe it’s even better when you put it like that – or even worse, I don’t know!”
Elyounoussi joined Saints for £16million on June 29, 2018 on a five-year deal.
But he arrived injured, having damaged his ankle in his final game for previous side Basel, and wore strapping during his medical.
He missed the majority of pre-season and then felt his hamstring go when rising for an aerial duel during his debut at home to Burnley – the same fixture he is set to start on Saturday.
It kept him out for a few matches and Elyounoussi felt that “set the tone” for his first season at Saints where he started picking up injuries for the first time in his career.
When he did play the ball just would not go in the net – he hit the woodwork twice – and then when Hasenhuttl replaced Mark Hughes in December 2018, luckless Elyounoussi’s days looked numbered.
That was largely due to the Austrian playing a back-three system without wingers, while the new boss also seemed not to rate the wideman’s work-rate.
It left the ex-Molde star turning up for training knowing that whatever he did, he would not feature at the weekend.
When you score in an empty stadium, it’s like scoring in a garden. It is so quiet and you do not actually feel anything. That was my only regret.
Mohamed Elyounoussi
Elyounoussi, 27, reflected: “I had to think not only weeks, months but years ahead.
“Even though things were going against me and I wasn’t playing, I knew better times were going to come and I needed to be ready for it.
“I could train the whole week and I knew it would be the same results (of not being selected).
“I still went to the gym and did my extra bits, for myself. I would play for the national team and get some minutes, come back and OK, it was the same situation.
“It didn’t matter, I still went for it. If the manager sees me not giving 100 per cent, then he could use that against me.
“I don’t think there’s any manager who can say that, that the work ethic wasn’t there or he didn’t care.
“I’m actually very happy I went through something like that. It made me stronger.”
‘LIKE NOW OR NEVER’
In the summer of 2019, Elyounoussi knew he had to leave, temporarily at least.
He wanted to stay in the UK and picked Celtic because the physicality of the Scottish division would help his adaptation to England, he would get game-time and play in Europe.
Elyounoussi knew if he struggled north of the border his chances back at Saints would be over.
Thankfully, he helped the Bhoys land a domestic treble in their truncated campaign due to Covid.
The loan was extended for a further season and though Celtic struggled, Elyounoussi netted 17 goals including one in an Old Firm derby played in front of no fans.
On that feat, he added: “When you score in an empty stadium, it’s like scoring in a garden. It is so quiet and you do not actually feel anything. That was my only regret.”
Hasenhuttl brought him back in this summer after being impressed with his running stats in pre-season and particularly by his performance in an inter-squad friendly in which Eloyounoussi scored one and made another.
Yet the Morocco-born star still did not feel confident of his Saints future and believed the second half of a League Cup game at Newport, his first appearance of the season, was crucial.
He said: “It was almost like now or never, really. I remember I went in at half-time, we were 3-0 up and I was thinking ‘I haven’t scored yet.’
“I thought ‘I have another 45 minutes to really step up’ so in the second half I was direct and just going for the goal.”
He ended up scoring a second-half hat-trick and grabbed two assists in an 8-0 victory and has not looked back since.
But with everything he has endured since arriving at Southampton, Elyounoussi will not be thinking he has made it on the South Coast just yet.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
