Southampton: Alex Jankewitz display highlights Ralph Hasenhuttl mistake | OneFootball

Southampton midfielder Alexandre Jankewitz produced an excellent display for Switzerland under-21s in their 1-0 victory over their England counterparts on Thursday, which begs the question – why hasn’t he featured more under Ralph Hasenhuttl this season?

The 19-year-old earned a lot of plaudits for his display in the first group game of the Under-21 European Championships and helped Switzerland pick up a much-deserved win against Aidy Boothroyd’s lacklustre England side.

Football Scout Jan Perret named Jankewitz as his man of the match on Twitter and suggested that he dominated the midfield, which is an impressive feat when you consider England had Oliver Skipp and Tom Davies in the middle, both of whom have plenty of experience in the Premier League and Championship.

Meanwhile, talkSPORT journalist Alex Crook agreed, suggesting that the Saints youngster was “very impressive” and that he bossed the game.

Despite his obvious talent, the teenager has been limited to just three senior appearances for Southampton in his career, all of which have come this season. He did well in the Saints’ 2-0 win against Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup and made his Premier League debut as a substitute in the 1-0 defeat against Aston Villa.

He was then handed a start at Old Trafford and was sent off inside two minutes, which is probably the main factor behind him not featuring in Hasenhuttl’s side since.

Although it was a nasty challenge from the midfielder which earned him that red card, he is very inexperienced and will learn from that mistake, so it is a shame that the Austrian has decided not to utilise him since then.

Considering Southampton have lost Oriol Romeu for the rest of the season, you would have perhaps expected the 19-year-old to feature more regularly, but the fact that they now find themselves in a relegation battle perhaps means that Hasenhuttl isn’t willing to risk playing the Swiss youngster on a regular basis in the top flight.

Their latest match against Bournemouth in the FA Cup would have perhaps been the ideal time to reintroduce Jankewitz, considering the comfortable nature of the result, but he was left on the bench, which arguably doesn’t bode well for his future at Southampton.

It was suggested in January that Jankewitz had handed in a transfer request due to a lack of first team opportunities with the south coast club and, following his impressive international display earlier this week, he should not be short of suitors if he does want to leave in the summer.

Therefore, it could well go down as a mistake by Hasenhuttl if he fails to select him again between now and the end of the season, as it wouldn’t be a surprise if Jankewitz moved away and became a success elsewhere.

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