Ralph Hasenhuttl made it quite clear after the draw with Huddersfield that he knows his side lacks quality in certain areas and that he will need to spend money to rectify it.
Saints fans will be pleased to hear that Ralph Hasenhuttl like them knows the deficiencies in his team and just what he needs to do to rectify that situation, however the Austrian also knows that there are no guarantees that he will be able to get the players that he wants.
Speaking after the game he said:
"It is a very clear picture for me now what we are still missing in our game.
"Maybe we know that we only win games when we have the perfect commitment and shape and work perfect together.
"If there are a few guys not 100 per cent in the right direction then we are struggling always.
"That means we need more quality next season. We must create more quality but maybe also get quality in from new players. That is what we are looking for in the summer for sure.
"It will be a difficult summer for sure because we have our limits with transfer fees and things like that but we must be clear that we have to make a few new players in the team.
"We have to sign a few new players and work with them exactly the same way as we did with our players now and try to create a new spirit and winning mentality because that was missing after being safe.
"After being safe I missed this winning mentality and to lean back a little bit and that’s what I really don’t like.”
"We know we could make a step in the table because Burnley lost and to lose a game where the opponent doesn’t have a goal chance, not a real one, and we had a lot of them, hurts really. I must say,” he admitted.
"It is a little bit like a picture from this season and it’s what we know we have to change for next season, for sure.
"We see that if you play in an intense way, an aggressive way, we are good, we can score, we can create chances.
"If we are a little bit sloppy every mistake is immediately a goal and that’s something we have to change for next season. It’s a clear message for the team, it’s a clear message for me.
"That means next season we maybe have a few new players next year and also create a new spirit and new mentality because we must give a different picture from the first game day.
"That’s the goal and a clear message for the summer and we will work on this.”
Hasenhuttl knows that he will have to sell to raise some of the transfer money but with a top heavy squad he has scope to lose maybe 7 or 8 players and replace them with 2 or 3 quality signings.
I would imagine the two areas he will be concerned about will be the centre of defence and up front.
Realistically Saints need to raise about £60 million and they already have £10 million of that banked after the sale of Manolo Gabbiadini, I would expect the following players all to be potentially for sale if the money and circumstances were right.
Alex McCarthy, Jack Stephens, Yoshida, Wesley Hoedt, Cedric, Ryan Bertrand, Stuart Armstrong , Mario Lemina, Charlie Austin, Sam Gallagher, Harrison Reed, Jake Hesketh, Moi Elyounoussi, plus the players out on loan like Jordy Claisie, Guido Carrillo, Sofiane Boufal, a total of 16 players who could possibly leave the club next season, I would not expect all of them to go, but certainly I would think that the club would be looking to shirt at least 10 of them if possible, although the last three loanee's might be difficult to do anyything with other than loan out again.