Yoshida wants Saints to keep stars

Southampton defender Maya Yoshida spoken of the Saints’ need to keep hold of their best players for their future.

Ronald Koeman had a real task on his hands at the start of last season, losing a number of key stars after Southampton were picked off by the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United.

Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw and Dejan Lovren were among the key Southampton players that were moved on by the club. Even this summer just gone, Morgan Schneiderlin and Nathaniel Clyne both moved on to Manchester United and Liverpool.Even Koeman himself has been linked with the job at Barcelona and Holland in recent times and would be a huge loss for Southampton.

However, Maya Yoshida has spoken about how crucial it will be to keep hold of their manager and star players if they are to push on and try and break into European football with top seven finishes.

It’s not easy to lose two or three of your best players every season and stay at the same, high level.

But although Southampton is not a huge club, it is run very well and the academy system is fantastic.

That gives us a big foundation to build on. If we can keep the manager and maybe hold on to our best players going forward, I think we can do some really great things.