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Southampton manager Ivan Juric wants club-record signing Kamaldeen Sulemana to stay at St Mary’s and boost his side’s battle to avoid Premier League relegation.
Forward Sulemana ended a 37-game goal drought stretching back more than 19 months with a lobbed finish before setting up the first of teenager Tyler Dibling’s double as Saints beat Swansea 3-0 in the FA Cup third round.
The Ghana international, who cost a reported £22million from French club Rennes two years ago, has been linked with a transfer this month, having made only two league starts all season.
Juric believes Sulemana can be an asset as the top flight’s bottom side attempt to overturn a 10-point gap to safety.
“Sulemana in the last 20 days, he worked hard; he was not in very good shape,” said Juric, who celebrated his maiden victory since being appointed Southampton boss just before Christmas.
“And now it’s the first game that I am satisfied with him.
“He can give us a hand, he’s a young player, he needs confidence but he can give us a hand.
“I know everything about Sulemana, when he played in France and the problems that he had here.
“He’s a good player and now in this moment the good players have to stay in Southampton and maybe we will bring other players to (supplement them).”
Sulemana’s two previous goals for Southampton came in a 4-4 draw with Liverpool in May 2023.
The 22-year-old capitalised on a misjudgement from Swans goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin in the 20th minute to claim an overdue strike before crossing for 18-year-old Dibling to double Saints’ lead 15 minutes later.
Dibling’s second, in the 65th minute, rewarded the dominance of the 1976 FA Cup winners as they comfortably progressed to a fourth-round meeting with Burnley by registering only a fourth success in 25 outings this term.
Head coach Juric, who has overseen three successive league losses since replacing the sacked Russell Martin, wants to build on the win, starting with Thursday’s trip to Manchester United.
“I’m very happy, very satisfied, I think we did one good game,” said the 49-year-old Croatian, whose team were hammered 5-0 at home by Brentford last weekend.
“I saw lots of good things, a few not so good but we are very pleased, happy.
“I hope it’s a new beginning. It’s the FA Cup and now we want to prepare really well to play against Manchester United to be more competitive than we were in the last game (against Brentford).
“I think we can do it.”
