Hannibal Mejbri dropped from Sevilla squad indefinitely after disappointing debut

Sevilla manager Quique Sanchez Flores has confirmed that midfielder Hannibal Mejbri will not be available for selection over the coming weeks as the Manchester United loanee needs to "understand where he is".

21-year-old Hannibal joined on loan from United for the remainder of the season and made his debut off the bench in an emphatic 5-1 thumping of Girona which also saw him pick up a yellow card just one minute after being introduced.

As a result of that performance, Sanchez Flores has warned Hannibal that he must take time away from the team to understand the responsibility that comes with playing senior football.

"Hannibal, after speaking with him and seeing his first minutes in Girona, we have given him the necessary space for him to understand where he is, what Sevilla means and where we want to see him defending the shirt," Sanchez Flores said.

"We have given him that learning period so that he can see things from the outside and he will return to the squad as one more player and as a player who we hope will contribute a lot until the end of the season.

"In the end, he has landed in a great club like Sevilla, in circumstances which require maximum demand and that require a bit of location. Sometimes, things look better from the outside than from the inside and, from our point of view, I had to take a step for him to see how we organise ourselves. We want him to apply it and we believe he will understand perfectly what we want."

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Sevilla have fallen on hard times in recent years and currently find themselves 17th in La Liga, having ended up 11th last season.

Sanchez Flores has been in charge since December 18, when he became Sevilla's fourth permanent manager of 2023. No manager has overseen more than 31 games in charge of the team since Julen Lopetegui left in October 2022.

Hannibal has managed 13 appearances for United, 11 of which came during the first half of this season, but he failed to hold down a permanent place in Erik ten Hag's team and was therefore sent out on loan for the remainder of the campaign.

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