Sevilla have issued a statement regarding Hannibal Mejbri’s unavailability for selection in the near future.
It is safe to say that the loan move this January has not started as well as hoped. The midfielder featured in Sevilla’s heavy 5-1 loss to Girona last weekend and was left out of the midweek team that played against Atletico Madrid midweek.
Sevilla’s statement via manager Quique Sanchez-Flores read:
"“After being with him, talking to him and having seen his first minutes in Girona, we are going to give him the necessary space to understand where he is, that he is at Sevilla and what it means. He has to know where he is and we want to see him.
We have spoken with him and we believe that he has to have some time to learn, we wanted to give him space, time for him to see things from the outside and then he will return to the squad.
In the end they are kids who have come and suddenly land in a huge club like Sevilla in circumstances of maximum demand. And they need a bit of location.
And that location may be seen better from the outside than from the inside. You should take a step to understand what we want. Let's see if the boy applies himself and I think that in the end he will understand perfectly what we want." "
The 21 year old is not having a good time in football lately, having opted not to feature for Tunisia in AFCON to focus on club football. He was promptly shipped out by Erik Ten Hag to the La Liga club and has already had some sort of breakdown between the player and the club.
It is not entirely known what caused the issue, but it is likely to be related to discipline. The player received a yellow card two minutes into his debut last weekend, and has been known for his larger than life temperament when playing.