Injury will prevent Sofiane Boufal from making a quick return to St Mary’s tonight.

The Moroccan attacker has moved to Celta Vigo on loan for the season after falling out of favour with Mark Hughes following their run-in as Saints battled for survival.

The La Liga side visit the south coast tonight as Saints have the first of two back-to-back home friendlies to round off their pre-season preparations.

Boufal is eligible to play against his parent club as the match is just friendly, however, it appears he will be ruled out after twisting his ankle in training last week.

Celta Vigo say the problem is set to rule him out for eight-ten days, meaning he will be unable to face Hughes and Saints.

Both Celta Vigo and Saints are likely to play somewhat mix and match sides this evening.

Saints round off their friendly campaign by hosting Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday which will be the main target for the club.

Celta Vigo, meanwhile, also have another game on Saturday as they stay in England to take on Fulham.

As well as Boufal they have had to leave four other first team stars at home as a precaution after they picked up injuries.

Hughes will likely try and give a first run out of the summer to Cedric Soares and Maya Yoshida who are both recently back from their post-World Cup summer holidays.

Unless they can get significant game time they could both be forced to miss the season opener against Burnley.