Southampton are enduring a disappointing end to their campaign.
Following relegation from the Premier League last summer this season had been seen as something of a reset, with Russell Martin brought in to implement his possession-based style.
After some initial teething problems early on in the season saw Southampton lose four games on the bounce, they then went on a record-breaking run of 25 games unbeaten in all competitions.
Recently, though, things have taken a turn for the worst.
The Saints were still in with a slim chance of automatic promotion following the final international break of the season in March, but three wins in nine games since then have meant they must settle for a spot in the play-offs.
Southampton must now try and put their poor form behind them as they prepare for those crucial end of season games.
A number of players will be eyeing up a spot in Martin’s starting XI for those fixtures, but one player who is likely to have little involvement is Kamaldeen Sulemana.
Kamaldeen Sulemana has disappointed at Southampton
Sulemana was brought in on January transfer deadline day last season, as Southampton desperately tried to improve their squad to stay in the Premier League.
It took a club record transfer fee of £22 million to bring the Ghanaian to St Mary’s from French club Rennes, however the winger has been bitterly disappointing.
Sulemana arrived full of promise, but has managed just two goals and four assists in 43 games in all competitions since joining.
What makes this worse is the fact these two goals came in the 4-4 draw with Liverpool on the final day of last season, when Southampton were already long relegated.
The player brought into to provide the spark to keep the Saints in the Premier League failed to make his mark until their fate was already sealed.
After trying to manufacture an exit in the summer, Sulemana remained at Southampton and Martin was keen to utilise the 22-year-old once he returned from the injury that kept him out of the start of the season.
This was seen by many as a fresh start and Sulemana’s performances were becoming increasingly exciting until he suffered another injury in November.
Since then, the Ghana international has failed to make any impact at all and his disinterested demeanour has grated on fans.
Whilst his pace is electrifying and he gets fans off of their seats with his trickery, Sulemana simply does not have the end product to match.
Sulemana tops Championship statistic
That is not to say that Sulemana has not shown glimpses of what he is capable of in his time on the south coast of England.
In fact, according to Fotmob, the wide player tops the Championship for both number of dribbles per 90 minutes as well as proportion of successful dribbles.
Sulemana averages 5.4 dribbles per game, with a success rate of 61.8%.
For context, second highest is a player Southampton have previously been linked with in Jack Clarke who averages 3.8 successful dribbles per 90 minutes with a 59.7% success rate.
This statistic makes Sulemana’s lack of impact all the more frustrating as he has shown how effective he can be when running with the ball, but no goals and three Championship assists simply is not good enough for a player that cost so much.
Given he has started just one of the past 16 league games and did not feature when Martin made numerous changes in the 1-0 loss to Stoke recently, it would appear Sulemana’s time at the club may well end this summer.
What’s worse for Saints is that they are likely to have to accept making a huge loss on the £22 million they spent just over a year ago.
