Southampton: Hasenhuttl explains why he is committed to Saints

Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl committed his long-term future to the club on Tuesday by signing a new four-year deal.

The announcement was greeted with great excitement by the Saints fans who can now look ahead to what the Austrian’s tenure may bring.

Hasenhuttl is a manager capable of operating at a higher level in the future, but he has explained just why he wants to stick around at St Mary’s for a bit longer.

Speaking to southamptonfc.com, the 52-year-old said:

"“The commitment of the club – with Martin (Semmens, Chief Executive Officer), with the players, with the staff – is something very special to me.“I can say I really don’t lose energy from coming into work, but I really get energy from coming here and putting everything in that I can give – all the knowledge I can bring to the club and all the work ethic that I want to put in. It’s absolutely an honour to be part of this club – to make people enjoy our game and make our players better.”"

Hasenhuttl’s words here really help to emphasise how lucky Saints are to have him at the moment.

Having produced successful projects at past clubs Ingolstadt and RB Leipzig, he can clearly see that there is the potential for something similar to happen whilst he is on the South Coast.

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• Grading the Southampton Transfer Window Part 1: Departures
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• A lament for Southampton legend James Ward-Prowse

Via sources like the Daily Echo and BBC Radio Solent, we have learnt that some of his motivation to stick around is to pay back the faith that the club showed in him earlier in the 2019/20 season.

Some clubs would have chosen to change their manager after losing 9-0 – like Saints did against Leicester back on that dreaded day in October.

However, people like CEO Martin Semmens could see the process that Hasenhuttl was in the middle of and the club’s faith enabled a relaxed atmosphere to come about almost immediately.

Since then, Saints have lifted themselves away from the bottom of the Premier League and up to relative safety in 14th.

With 34 points on the board at the moment, it will be vital for Saints to confirm their top-flight status for next year as soon as possible and make sure that plans can definitely be drawn up for Ralph to put in place.

The beginning of the next stage of the process will probably come when this campaign finishes in early August.

That is expected to be when the summer transfer window will take place and it could be open until October, and Saints will be wanting to do some business even if player movement is limited by the problems caused by the Coronavirus.