Southampton's Hasenhuttl unhappy with Danny Ings' contract situation

Ings is in the last year of his Saints deal and recently turned down a renewal bid from the club. 

The England international has been rumored with a transfer to Spurs, with new manager

Nuno Espirito Santo

wanting to sign him as a strike partner for

Harry Kane

. 

Southampton appears to be putting up a hard fight against any deal for the 28-year-old. 

"We need this player, we want him to play for us," Hasenhuttl told

. "But I think it's never helpful to go into the last season with one year left - this is what I think he should know."

"He's our player for another year, we paid a lot of money for him," said Ralph Hasenhuttl. "When we brought him here, we invested a lot to get him to the highest level and how he is at the moment. We stuck with him with all these injuries he had, gave him the time to recover, gave him the time to perform.

"There's no reason to sell him, but it's always a risk for the player when you go into your final year without a contract. That's why it's never good for nobody, not for us, not for him, because you never know what can happen in football - injuries can happen, which nobody wants.

"People on our team are telling him what to do, we have our opinions about what we want him to do. He's our player and we'd love him to be here, but one thing is also clear - when he is not extending his contract, that it is not a perfect situation for him, it's not a perfect situation for us."

Hasenhuttl was upset with how the story of Ings' rejection of a contract renewal made its way into the public eye earlier this month.

"Messages like he doesn't accept our contract, he doesn't want to extend his contract, doesn't help nobody - not him, not us," Hasenhuttl said. "I don't know who sent these messages, it's not coming from our side, definitely not."

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