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.