Southampton defender Yan Valery has revealed the real reason he was out for so long during a Q&A on his Instagram stories, via his official Instagram account.

The young Frenchman mysteriously disappeared from the squad following the Premier League clash against Watford at St Mary’s on the final day of November 2019, and didn’t make his comeback to the matchday 18 until the February encounter against Aston Villa, as per Transfermarkt.

Ralph Hasenhuttl had often told the press that he was ill, but we never really got any further in that as the weeks passed by.

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In fact, the pure confusion surrounding the situation is shown by the fact he was asked how he coped during his injury, which led him to correct the person and say he in fact had glandular fever.

That illness certainly explains why he was laid low for so long, and now he is finally back in action the 2019/20 campaign has obviously ground to a halt.

The 21-year-old will certainly know that he needs to do better than in his comeback appearance against Newcastle United prior to the break, when his lack of concentration gifted Allan Saint-Maximin a winning goal on the south coast.

In other Southampton news, Yan Valery has asked one Red Bull Leipzig star to come to St Mary's on Instagram...