Most Southampton fans were glad to see the back of the 2024/25 season, when they closed out their dismal campaign with a 2-1 defeat at home to Arsenal last month.
After winning promotion back to the Premier League via the play-offs 12 months ago, Saints proceeded to claim just 12 points, just one more than Derby County’s record low of 11 points that the Rams achieved in 2007/08.
The team also picked up a slew of unwanted records and burned through two managers as Russell Martin and Ivan Juric both came and went, with Will Still - ranked at no.8 in FourFourTwo's list of the best English managers in football right now - appointed as the man to pick up the pieces in the Championship next season.
Mateus Fernandes’ honest 2024/25 appraisal
And it would appear that it’s not just the fans who will be glad to put the 2024/25 campaign behind them, as one Southampton star has given a very honest take on how he currently feels.
Midfielder Mateus Fernandes joined Southampton last summer and made 42 appearances for the club in all competitions before jetting out to this summer’s European Under-21 Championship with Portugal.
His side were knocked out of the tournament in the quarter-finals by the Netherlands at the weekend and he pulled no punches with his end-of-season assessment.
“It was a very difficult day, but that’s football. We didn’t take advantage of our opportunities; they ended up going there once and managing to score,” he told Portuguese outlet Record before turning his attention to his season as a whole.
“It was a tiring season for me, I’m completely fed up with football. Many defeats, it was a year of learning and that’s it, learning from football.
“I hope that in the next Euros we can give a better response. Now it’s time to forget about football for a while and enjoy the holidays.”
Fernandes, who joined Saints from Sporting Lisbon in a £15million deal last summer and is currently valued at €15million by Transfermarkt, has been linked with a move away from Southampton this summer as the club looks to rebuild and bounce back from the second tier at the first time of asking.
The 20-year-old has four years remaining on his deal at the club, but with 16 Portugal U21s appearances to his name plus a year of Premier League football, he should not be short of suitors.
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