Ralph Hasenhuttl insisted Saints still had their “eyes open” on the January transfer window but admitted: “Players who can help us immediately cost a lot of money.” Rocked by a vast number of absentees through injury in his squad at present, the Austrian manager saw his side go down 2-0 at Leicester City on Saturday. Goals from Harvey Barnes and James Maddison sent Saints to their fifth league defeat of the campaign. The St Mary’s side, who were forced to name an array of youngsters on the bench for the clash at King Power Stadium, have now scored just once in five games. Asked whether a creative player could possibly arrive in January,
Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “No. I don’t know. We have our eyes open. The options that we have, they have potential and are not really players who can help us at the moment. Players who can help us immediately cost a lot of money and this is what we cannot do. If you have nine injured players I think it would be hard for every team. But it is like it is and what should I say? I’m happy that we have 29 points. But we are still fighting. It doesn’t mean we are happy on 29 (points) and we stay there. We want to take points consistently.”
