Full Sevilla statement after Hannibal Mejbri dropped from squad

Hannibal Mejbri will not be considered for selection on loan at Sevilla following a surprising statement from manager Quique Sánchez Flores.

Hannibal, 21, moved on loan to Sevilla from Manchester United earlier this month in search of more first-team minutes.

The midfielder started just one Premier League game for The Reds in the first half of the season. He impressed against Burnley but was unable to secure many more minutes.

A move to Spain presented a promising opportunity for Hannibal but there are already major concerns after it was confirmed that he would not be made available for upcoming games.

Hannibal has been told that he ‘needs to understand where he is’ and has been challenged to apply himself as manager Flores made the following statement:

“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,” Quique Sánchez Flores said.

“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.”

It has been reported by Mundo Deportivo that Mejbri was dropped from the squad after a “confrontation” with Sevilla forward Mariano Díaz that led to “major events” inside the dressing room.

UtdDistrict understands that, despite this report, there was no fight involved involved in the situation.