Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has insisted that the Saints must look at their own squad’s needs first before offloading players as he set his transfer stance clear.
The Austrian has signalled his intention to ensure that the club do not rush into needless deals as they look to preserve strong depth in all areas of the squad.
With less than two weeks to go until the closing of the winter transfer window, this would ordinarily be an ideal opportunity to send youngsters out on loan for experience or to sell on peripheral assets. However, given the prevalence of a deadly viral pandemic and a mounting injury list, these are anything but normal times for the Saints.
As a consequence, Hasenhuttl was firm and unambiguous as he made clear his conservative approach to letting players leave in this window in comments shared via Hampshire Live.
He said: “Yes, we have a few players who might like to go on loan. But we must be very careful who we send on loan again, because it is a special situation and you could have a few Covid cases and then you need everyone in the squad, so it makes more sense to look first for the club and then personally for the players.”
Southampton have a strong core of loanees at a variety of clubs, ranging from Wesley Hoedt’s spell at Lazio to Jake Hesketh’s loan at Crawley Town.
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Hasenhuttl is more than justified in calling for caution over loans. While he certainly ruled nothing out, his wary tone is revealing as to where his priorities lie.
The Saints simply cannot afford to be caught short in the market were their existing injury woes to intensify, or else the squad would be forced to rely on untested youngsters.
Therefore, Southampton might not have anyone else exiting the club between now and the end of the month.
