Southampton: Ralph Hasenhuttl confirms he wants to stay with Saints

The rise of Southampton up the Premier League table in the 2020/21 season so far has seen the spotlight firmly fixed on the players and manager.

Ralph Hasenhuttl has formed a squad that is capable of playing his style and system excellently and they have claimed 16 points from eight games so far

Given the increased focus on him and his team, Hasenhuttl has been suggested as a future manager for a top-six club. However, his recent comments suggest that he has no plans to leave

Speaking in an interview with German sports news outlet Kicker.de (via Hampshire Live), the Austrian said:

"“My wife and I feel very much at home here, we love southern England, people like us. And I can fully concentrate on football here, the work is great fun.“With Martin Semmens, my chairman, I have someone by my side who supports me. We went through the time after Leicester together, and a trust grew there that I didn’t know before in this business.“Here at the club, I can move anything I want to move. I can act as I see fit. I can’t think of a better job at the moment.”"

For Saints fans, it is absolutely clear why they want him to be around for a long time.

After his highly successful time in charge of RB Leipzig, it was seen by some as a real coup for the club when he arrived to replace Mark Hughes midway through the 2018/19 season.

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His superb enthusiasm soon got the supporters on side after a turbulent few years and sparked some much-improved displays from his players that led to an eventual 16th-placed finish.

2019/20 started badly but ended fantastically, and now the “Alpine Klopp” looks to have things heading towards a push for Europe after a successful summer and beginning to this campaign.

There is still a long way to go this season but fans will have been worried by those stories linking him away – even though they were very speculative and did not come from a source close to the club.

What is important to remember is that Hasenhuttl is a coach who buys into every club he has been at and becomes engrossed in the foundations he is putting in place.

Whether this just his way, a want for his unique style of play to work in England or just a refreshing commitment to the cause, we do not know. He did, of course, turn down talks with Bayern Munich before taking the Saints job because he thought he thought he was not deserving of such a role at that stage.

Whatever it is, the bond between Saints and their current manager looks unbreakable at the moment and you can be sure that Hasenhuttl will see his role out to a stage where he is satisfied.