Manager Ralph Hasenhuttl insisted Saints “know that we have to do something there in the summer” regarding full-back cover, after trying to recruit in January. Asked whether he regretted not bringing in a full-back in January,
Ralph Hasenhuttl said “Yeah, this is no surprise that we tried it, yeah? I mean, we tried everything but it wasn’t possible in the winter, because of the special situation every club was in. With COVID and everything, nobody wanted to loan players because nobody knew how we were at that moment, with the situation where numbers were rising – we had big problems with COVID cases in the league. We tried everything but it didn’t work. Finally, we know that we have to do something there in the summer – and therefore we have to concentrate now.”
The St Mary’s side had been boosted by the return of right-back Kyle Walker-Peters to the squad at Sheffield United, after he recovered from a hamstring problem. Before that, Saints had been forced to play centre-half Jan Bednarek as a makeshift full-back, having let Jake Vokins and Yan Valery head out on loan.
