'They can make an impact' - Southampton boss confident of Onuachu, other signings

Nathan Jones influenced Onuachu’s signing, but he only played one game under the Irishman

Southampton interim coach Ruben Selles believes that the club’s decision to sack Nathan Jones will not adversely affect new signings like Paul Onuachu.

The Saints are in a race against time to start racking up the results this season. They are 20th in the league and look set for Championship football.

Nonetheless, in an attempt to salvage something, the club went on a spending spree in January, signing Mislav Orsic, Carlos Alcaraz, James Bree, Kamaldeen Sulemana, and Paul Onuachu.

Welsh tactician Nathan Jones played a role in their signing, as he introduced his ideology to the players and sold the idea of joining the club to them.

However, Jones was sacked two weeks after the close of the January transfer. Onuachu played just one game under the former Luton Town boss before his sack.

Still, Selles is of the opinion that Jones’ absence would not affect Onuachu and other new signings at the club.

“With Kamaldeen [Sulemana] and Paul [Onuachu] I have an advantage,” Selles told HampshireLive.

“Because Paul played against my team in Denmark [AGF] with FC Midtjylland and Kamaldeen also scored against me a couple of times with Nordsjælland, so it was an easy conversation to have with them about what we expect from them.

“With Nathan in terms of being the person to have picked them up, I think they are incredible players that can make an impact in the Premier League as much as Carlos [Alcaraz] or James [Bree] coming from Luton or Misalv [Orsic].

“It’s not been difficult. It’s been more task related. So telling them what we need from them and where we see them now and possibly in the future.”

Southampton are bottom of the Premier League, three points away from safety. They still have a good chance of staying afloat if they can get a good run of results.

Onuachu got his first start for Southampton in their 1-0 win against Chelsea. He would hope that his presence in the team would spur his side to achieve survival.