Ralph Hasenhuttl has admitted that Southampton cannot afford to bring in a forward who can guarantee them 25 goals in the Premier League.
The Saints are the joint second lowest scorers in the league this season. Along with Tottenham, they have netted just eleven times. Norwich are bottom of the pile as they have scored seven goals this campaign.
Hasenhuttl has conceded that the funds will not be there for him in January to bring in a new goalscorer.
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Asked if he would be doing business, Hasenhuttl said: “No, for sure no because when you can guarantee me a striker that scores 24 goals or 25 goals in the Premier League, that costs around… I don’t know.
“I don’t think there are some goalscorers around available for us that guarantee us 24 or 25 goals in the Premier League.”
Asked if he simply could not afford that kind of player, he added: “Not really, I think. We are working on ours and bringing them to the level that they can help us. I think this is a better way.”
Hasenhuttl’s comments came as he prepared his team for Wednesday night’s home clash with Leicester on the back of successive defeats by Norwich and, on Saturday, Liverpool, where they lost 4-0 after a bruising first half.
The manager and his staff have since reviewed the performance at Anfield and, while there were issues to be addressed, Hasenhuttl felt there were positives too.
He said: “It was by far not as bad as we thought after the game, I must say. Also in the first half, we had our chances, definitely, to come back into the game, but we struggled to score there and against such a team, it’s not possible to come back when you’re not scoring.
“When you have no chance to come back, then you make it easy for them, and that was the issue in the end. In the second half, we defended better and took the pressure off ourselves and that was a little bit better, but overall not good enough to take something there.”
Defender Jack Stephens could return to the fold against the Foxes after more than two months out with a knee injury, while Moussa Djenepo has shaken off the knock which has sidelined him in recent weeks.
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