"Not often you hear that" - Journalist reacts to "odd" situation involving Southampton star

Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl’s decision to omit Jan Bednarek from his squad for his side’s FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester City was a “curious” one, according to journalist Tom Barclay.

Bednarek has been a regular member of Southampton’s starting XI this season, but he was not even on the bench for the last eight encounter at St Mary’s.

Hasenhuttl opted to go with the centre-back pairing of Jack Stephens and Mohammed Salisu for the game against Pep Guardiola’s side, and he did not name a recognised central defender on the bench.

When asked why Bednarek had not featured after the match, Hasenhuttl suggested that the 6 foot 3 defender was not 100% focused on the game as he had an important international match coming up for Poland.

Poland are due to face Sweden on Tuesday in a World Cup play-off final, with the winners booking their place at this year’s tournament in Qatar.

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Barclay can understand why Bednarek’s mind may have been elsewhere given what is at stake for Poland in their one-off match with Sweden.

However, he still feels it is bizarre that the £19.8m-rated defender missed a crucial FA Cup match for the Saints, which they went on to lose 4-1.

Reflecting on Hasenhuttl’s reasoning for leaving out Bednarek, Barclay told GIVEMESPORT: “It is an odd one ahead of a big game like that. Yes, internationally they’ve got some big fixtures and it’s been a very emotional time from a Poland point of view, remember all of the players did that joint message about not playing against Russia after what’s happened in Ukraine.

“So, he’s feeling very patriotic, a proud man to play for his country, but it was quite curious. It’s not