Ralph Hasenhuttl insisted Saints do not have to sell their best players this summer in order to fund the reinforcements needed to their squad. But the Austrian says Saints will need to be “smart” in the transfer window.
Ralph Hassenhutl said: “The good thing is we don’t have to sell players, or not our best players. We will maybe sell others, those who are interesting for lower league teams or other teams. And then the targets we have, and the players we want to sign are very seldom players in the £20million or £30m register, this is what we don’t need for us as a club. We are looking for players around the £10m, or even lower if possible. There are some good value valuable players around that. And this we have to find and this we have to pick. I think what is important for us is not about selling a lot of players, but selling the right ones. It will help us massively, especially on the full-back positions we know that we have some issues in this season with injuries, then we were struggling. We have to take the focus on this. And then hopefully we find the right ones, because now I think the transfers in the last season with Ibra (Diallo) and Sali (Mohammed Salisu), they were good and helpful. We need to look for a good mentality and for a good character. And finally, also for good quality on the pitch, and a good workload that is important for us as a team and then we will have a good side next season also.”
Saints enjoyed an impressive start to the campaign, sitting top in November and still in the top six in early January, before the crippling injury problems took hold and saw Hasenhuttl’s men tumble down the table. They have since arrested the slide and could move up to 12th with victory at West Brom tomorrow evening. And Hasenhuttl knows there are certain areas of the squad which need improvement if they are to avoid a similar drop off next season.
Ralph Hassenhutl said: “This squad, especially the players in the second line, they haven’t been good enough to keep us on this (high) level when we are missing a few and maybe having a few issues with injuries,” said the Saints boss. This we have to change in the summer. I know therefore we need a lot of money, but we have to be smart, we have to be really finding the transfer packages or signings that are perfect for us and we can handle with our limits we have as a club. But we have to do it because otherwise you can be sure that a season is so long with so many games, you cannot go through such a long season without injuries, so you need to also have a good second line who you trust and you can keep the level high.”
