Danny Rohl was the early favourite to replace Russell Martin, but it is rumoured that Saints are balking at paying the compensation wanted by Sheffield Wednesday, however they are said to be interested in another target.

According to sportsiew.co,uk the man that Southampton are interested in is Kasper Hjulmand, who resigned as boss of the Denmark national side in July of this year.

This is said to be attractive to Saints as there would be no compensation payable to secure his services.

Hjulmand started his coaching career in his native country Denmark at Lyngby, spending 2 years as head coach before becoming an assistant coach with Nordsjælland, progressing to the head coach job in July 2011.

Nordsjælland won their first ever Danish championship with Hjulmand as head coach, despite having one of the lowest budgets in the league.

In May 2014 Hjulmand was confirmed as the successor to Thomas Tuchel at Mainz05 in Germany, initially he did well, but a lean spell in the winter saw him sacked in February 2015.

He returned to Nordsjælland in December 2015 and remained there until 2019, he had been subject of an approach by Anderlecht during his time back in Denmark, but Nordsjælland were demanding too much in compensation and the deal fell though, Hjulmand then announced he would leave at the end of his contract in July 2019, but he left by mutual consent in March of that year.

In June 2019 he was to replace the head coach of the Denmark National team after the Euro 2020 tournament although with Covid intervening, it would be Hjulmand who would lead Denmark in the delayed 2020 tournament eventually played in 2021, he led them to the semi-finals, in which they lost 2–1 after extra-time and a controversial penalty against England.

In Euro 2024 Denmark made the last 16 but lost 2-0 to Germany and Hjulmand resigned shortly afterwards.

According to sportsiew.co,uk go on to report that Alex Crook of Talk Sport is saying that “reliable sources have confirmed” that Southampton previously considered hiring Hjulmand who was high on their shortlist post Hassenhuttl"

West Ham United have also said to be interested in Hjulmand should they decide to change their manager Julen Lopetegui..

Hjulmand will have a mixed reaction from Southampton fans, on one hand he is a very experienced manager in Denmark, Germany & at International level, but on the other he has no experience in England and so if appointed would need someone with the necessary Premier League nous to assist him.

Photo: Action Images

mattlegod added 21:59 - Dec 16 No.. not seeing any improvement there..
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A1079 added 22:18 - Dec 16 I can't say this appointment would fill me with too much hope if it happened but it is the sort of appointment SR would make.
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Bowlercow added 22:25 - Dec 16 At club level he has a win percentage below 40% but if they won't pay compo to get anyone out of a live contract then he is probably the best we can get
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IanRC added 22:55 - Dec 16 They can't really be trying to do it on the cheap short term again can they
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Jesus_02 added 23:14 - Dec 16 I'm perplexed.. surely Klopp. Pep or at least Merino were waiting in the wings. What on earth did people expect. Potter? More chance of getting Kevin Keegan. maybe we can get Scott Quigley on Loan in January he is nearly 6ft 4... great for corners.
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highfield49 added 23:23 - Dec 16 Considering that so many of the potential candidates are unproven, unavailable or destined for better opportunities Kasper Hjulmand could be the right fit for the role. As the club already has Adam Lallana in house they wouldn't need to look any farther for "someone with the necessary Premier League nous" to advise a new manager. Having worked for many years with Jurgen Klopp, like him or not, Lallana's tactical awareness is probably top level.

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Colburn added 00:46 - Dec 17 We should offer Potter the money he wants. He has the links with our club and I don’t think we’re definitely down yet. Look at Leicester years ago under Pearson, went from the worst team in the league to second or third best and avoided relegation. They won the league the following year.. We’re 9 points off with 22 games left. There’s no compensation required for Potter, just go and get him! Everyone has their price.

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kingolaf added 07:30 - Dec 17 Bit of a stretch to say he has experience of German football. He got sacked quickly from there. Wouldn’t be at all enthused by him joining.
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JoeEgg added 08:05 - Dec 17 Surely Sports Republic have had weeks and weeks to plan for a replacement for Martin? The only logical answer is Graham Potter although I'm not sure what even he could do with the mostly Championship standard squad that we have! As Colburn suggests there is at least time to restore some pride and learn the habit once again of performing well and winning matches. I would imagine Potter knows our squad better than any other of the candidates which must surely rule out any chance of recruiting help from abroad? But this is Sports Republic.

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underweststand added 08:40 - Dec 17 Although Hjulmand seems to be an outside choice, his career path has given him a lot of contact with Ankersen. If we assume he can talk football - in English- that would rule out language difficulties with team talks, and (Nick's comment ) about someone familiar with the Premier League to assist him ..(?) ..perhaps even Adam Lallana... who is surely in his last playing season, but has won almost everything with Liverpool and had an England career, and more recently coaching experience with England's youth team(s) and has a " spiritual connection" with Saints for whom he played (and captained) for in many seasons.

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Block8 added 09:45 - Dec 17 To be fair an ex IKEA manager would be an upgrade on RM! Not sure how some of us are looking for a big name, look where we are for goodness sake. I can see Hjulmand, with Lallana as assistant being a pretty good fit, considering our situation!
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saint_ben added 10:04 - Dec 17 When are fans going to wake up. Mangers like Potter don’t want to take a job like this on. We are bottom of the league nine points adrift. He is never going to take this job. He has turned down other jobs to more secure teams so he won’t ever take the Saints job. I don’t think it’s a case of SR wont pay for the right person, it’s more about the candidate actually wanting to take this role on. Most won’t want it. Why would you want relegation on your CV! We just have to hope they will get the best person for the job available to them that wants to be here!

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