Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl admits new signing Mohammed Salisu deserves to play.
The Ghanian central defender has not played a single minute since arriving in August from Real Valladolid.
Now it appears the 21-year-old could feature against Fulham on Boxing Day, with Jannik Vestergaard suffering from a small kene problem.
Hasenhuttl told the Daily Echo: "The same as for Ibra (Diallo) - I think he deserves to get a chance now to play.
"He was waiting very long for it.
"I think we said it's a long-term project and maybe now it's the moment for him to step in the team and to show up – and I hope he does it in a positive and a good way."
