Ralph Hasenhuttl has not ruled out a signing or two in January, but his priority is not going to be permanent signings, but getting current members of his squad to new deals and perhaps the odd loan signing.
Ralph Hasenhuttl is well aware that the January transfer window is not one for bargains, it is generally panic buy central, but the Austrian believes that it can be used to Saints advantage if used properly, as it was a year ago when Kyle Walker Peters joined on loan, proved himself and was signed permanently.
Asked about his plans for next month when the window reopens, the Austrian boss said:
"If you want to do something then we do something for the future like we did in the last window in January with Kyle Walker-Peters.
"Maybe a player brought in on loan and then give him half a year’s chance to show if he’s good enough for us and then we can decide in the summer if we want to buy him.
"I think this is the best way to handle it and everything else doesn’t make sense.
"The squad is okay, in every position we have double players there and this is okay.”
He added: "In the moment we are more focusing on extending contracts than bringing players in, because we have done in the summer three signings and I think this must be enough for this season.”
That Saints will not be spending big is perhaps no surprise, after all in these difficult times , they like many clubs are cutting their cloth to suit their finances and still losing money with the absence pf fans hitting hard in the pocket.
Some like Spurs who borrowed £175 million in a Government loan and then spent half of it on Gareth Bales wages will gamble, but that gamble may come back and bite them up the rear end at some point in the future.
In the meantime at St Mary's we have a manager who is looking at the bigger picture and putting in place a strategy that will hopefully serve us well for years going forward.