Hasenhuttl: The Southampton squad must be bigger and better

started the season in great form and even placed themselves at the top of the table for a short period. However, the Saints’ narrow squad harmed their form as the team faced an injury crisis during the season. Ahead of his side’s clash against

on Sunday,

Ralph Hasenhüttl

admits the club need to add new players to their squad.

“The big problem in the Premier League is when you ask for a new player in Europe or wherever, you automatically pay more money for him than other clubs all around the world,”

Hasenhuttl told a press conference.

“It is not the same like buying a car where everybody pays the same, the price tag is always a different one.

“If you want to buy somebody who is not expensive, then you have a problem with the work permit in England, so there is not really a solution.”

The Saints currently sit 16th in the Premier League table, only 10 points above the relegation zone. Hasenhüttl’s team have lost three of their last five games as they are struggling to distance themselves from the bottom three.

“You are killing yourself a little bit in this, especially in the teams who are not able to pay transfer fees like £20million or £30million.

“You see today that when you ask for an interesting player, it very often starts with £20m and we are not able to spend this money in this moment, but this is how it is.

“We then have to pick a few players who maybe have the chance one time to become really good players, they all must fit perfectly for us.

“This is the problem we have here at this club and this is nothing new.”

Southampton were able to reach the FA Cup semi-finals, where they were eliminated by Leicester City at Wembley. The German coach believes his side’s defeat against the Foxes indicates the lack of depth in their squad.

“It shows us that when you want to be constantly in these areas of the Premier League, it is not possible to outperform all of the time,” the Saints boss said.

“You have to win some tight games with also some maybe of the B team or players who are not playing all of the time.

“But their quality this season was not good enough to lift us or give us a good alternative, this is the challenge for the summer, to make the squad bigger with more quality in every position.

“Then you can also come into the situation where you can make a rotation like the big teams and still win the games.

“Otherwise it is not possible to be competitive. The season is too long, too tough.

“There are too many good teams there – you cannot go away to Manchester United like we did with academy players and also be competitive.

“This is not possible in the future and is the clear message. This is the challenge for the club in the summer… to give us more opportunities for every position.”

After their match against Liverpool, the Saints will prepare themselves to face

in their next Premier League match on May 11.

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