MOHAMED Elyounoussi has stated that he found it "hard" to gain momentum during his first season at Saints.

Elyounoussi was signed by ex-manager Mark Hughes for £16m last summer but failed to make an impact under the Welshman's guidance.

When Ralph Hasenhuttl took charge in December, the Norwegian international continued to struggle in a Saints shirt.

Speaking to the Daily Record, Elyounoussi said: "What was missing last season? It was all small details. It didn’t start great because I was injured and it took some time, it was my first game and I got an injury when I’d never had one in my career.

"But I got back, then the manager got sacked, a new manager came in – a lot of things went on and it was hard to get momentum."

Elyounoussi joined Saints as a replacement for Dusan Tadic.

But while Tadic took Ajax to the verge of a Champions League final last season,

Elyounoussi failed to create or score any goals on the south coast.

This saw him join Celtic on a season-long loan.

He will be linking up with Fraser Forster, who also joined the Scottish champions to get some game time after falling down the pecking order at Saints.

And, like Forster, Elyounoussi claimed that his main motivation for leaving St Mary's on a temporary basis to play football again.

Elyounoussi added: "As a player you want to play more so that’s why I’m here, to get back to where I was."