Ugochukwu now set to stay at Southampton after change of manager — reports

01/03/2025 02:55 AM

G'wan, Ugo!

Lesley Ugochukwu's fortunes at Southampton appear to have taken a drastic turn for the better with the appointment of Ivan Jurić as their new manager just before Christmas. While the team's fortunes have not yet improved and they are surely going back down at the end of the season, the Chelsea loanee's immediate future now seems to be to remain with the team until then at least.

Ugochukwu found minutes hard to come by under previous manager Russell Martin, starting just two league games in four months, but that's no longer the case. Obviously, it's only been a couple games, but Ugochukwu started Jurić's first match in charge and made an impact as a substitute in the second. Jurić is cognizant of the 20-year-old's injury issues that saw him miss five months last season with a hamstring problem, but it looks like he's set for a much bigger role going forward.

"With Lesley it was much better [against Palace]. Lesley hasn't played a lot lately and I was scared for injuries because he suffered in the past but he did a very good 40 minutes."

-Ivan Jurić; source: Daily Echo

Jurić may not be able to recover the damage done to Southampton's season, but hopefully he can continue to give minutes to our man.