Daily Echo journalist Dan Sheldon has told the latest episode of The Total Saints Podcast (Sunday) that Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl is keen to sign a new contract with the south coast outfit.
What did he say?
Well, the Austrian has previously said that nothing would be sorted until the club reaches 36 points, and they are currently two points adrift of that total with the season currently suspended until April 3.
It may come to a point where deals need to be talked about sooner rather than later, and the boss himself is likely to be one of the priorities given his contract at St Mary’s is due to expire in the summer of 2021.
Sheldon is confident that the 52-year-old will stay though, showing loyalty to a board that trusted in him when things weren’t going great towards the beginning of the 2019/20 campaign.
The journalist said (59:20): “I do think he will end up at one of the so-called bigger clubs. I wouldn’t worry from a Saints point of view behind the scenes, he’s quite keen to sign a new deal because he wants to show the loyalty that they showed to him at the beginning of the season. How many teams would have stuck by someone after losing 9-0? Probably not many.”
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Should Saints tie him down?
They certainly should.
Things may not have been great at times under Hasenhuttl (the 9-0 loss against Leicester an obvious low point) when you look at performances like against West Ham and Burnley in recent weeks, but their form over the Christmas period was excellent.
Beating teams like Chelsea and Leicester away is no mean feat, and the former RB Leipzig manager deserves great credit for that, even if he doesn’t always get things right on the pitch.
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The question you have to ask is whether the south coast outfit are going to get anyone better right now given the financial situation they are in, with managing director Toby Steele last week reinforcing the fact that owner Gao Jisheng won’t be investing any of his own money into the club.
The quicker Southampton get Hasenhuttl tied down then, the better.
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