Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has spoken out over the future of star striker Danny Ings, amid persistent links with Premier League rivals Tottenham.
Saints standout
Prolific hitman Ings is fresh off the back of another solid campaign.
The 28-year-old has long reestablished himself as one of English football’s finest strikers, proving a key cog in an impressive Southampton side.
After racking up a stellar 22 goals in the Premier League in 2019/20, Ings, despite fitness concerns, went on to find the net a further 12 times across 29 league appearances last time out.
He also notched a respectable four assists.
Such exploits helped Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men to a surprise challenge for European football early in the campaign, though the Saints eventually slipped well off the pace of the top-6.
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 13: Che Adams of Southampton celebrates with teammates Jannik Vestergaard, Danny Ings and Theo Walcott after scoring their team’s first goal during the Premier League match between Southampton and Sheffield United at St Mary’s Stadium on December 13, 2020 in Southampton, England. A limited number of spectators (2000) are welcomed back to stadiums to watch elite football across England. This was following easing of restrictions on spectators in tiers one and two areas only. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
‘Our player for another year’
As such, it goes without saying that Southampton will no doubt be keen to keep hold of Ings for as long as possible.
With such impressive production, however, comes inevitable outside interest.
The latter months of the season, for example, saw one outfit in particular persistently tipped to launch an offensive in a bid to land the Saints’ star performer.
The side in question? Tottenham.
Amid suggestions that Ings was stalling on putting pen to paper on a new contract at St. Mary’s, the North Londoners, time and time again, were named as a potential summer landing spot for Ings.
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 25: Ralph Hasenhuttl, Managerof Southampton looks on prior to the Premier League match between Southampton FC and Leicester City at St Mary’s Stadium on October 25, 2019 in Southampton, United Kingdom. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
In turn, speaking to the media ahead of the fast-approaching new season getting underway, it came as little surprise when Ralph Hasenhuttl was this evening drawn on the future of his side’s attacking spearhead.
And the Austrian, at first, appeared altogether adamant that, despite suggestions that new Spurs boss Nuno Espirito Santo is keen to pair Ings with Harry Kane, there remains ‘no reason to sell’ the hitman:
‘He’s our player for another year, we paid a lot of money for him.’
‘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.’
From here, however, Hasenhuttl went on to express concern regarding the situation, confirming that Ings’ refusal to extend the terms of his current deal has left club and player alike in a precarious spot:
‘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.’
Southampton outline Danny Ings transfer stance as Ralph Hasenhuttl tells Tottenham they have ‘no reason to sell’ striker https://t.co/PMSrVBore1
— Standard Sport (@standardsport) July 17, 2021
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