Matt Le Tissier admits concern about Southampton’s January plans

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Southampton have made a very underwhelming start to the new Premier League season.

Matt Le Tissier has admitted on Soccer Saturday (broadcast on Sky Sports; 03/11 from 12:00pm) that he is not expecting Southampton to spend heavily during the January transfer window, even if Mark Hughes’ men remain in trouble.

It has been a disappointing start to the campaign for the Saints. They find themselves just outside the relegation zone in the Premier League and go into Sunday’s clash with Manchester City having won just once in the top flight.

Goalscoring has certainly been a big issue, with just six strikes coming so far. It is a troubling return, especially given the summer deal to bring Danny Ings to St Mary’s. But Le Tissier is worried that the club will not be able to get the chequebook out during the upcoming window.

“Not very,” he told Soccer Saturday when asked how confident he was that the board will go out and spend in January.

“I don’t think there’s that much money there to be spent. I think the fact that we only got Danny Ings in on loan tells you that the budget was pretty much spent up in the summer so yeah, I don’t expect there’ll be too much in the kitty for them to go out and spend.”

January is always a difficult window to do business, so clubs rarely manage to sign players for a price reflective of their market value. Saints know extremely well what the pressures of January can make clubs do given that they broke their club record on Guido Carillo at the start of this year.

But one year earlier, the deal to sign Manolo Gabbiadini looked a masterstroke and nearly helped Southampton clinch League Cup glory. He also scored that massive goal at Swansea City in the penultimate game of last season that virtually guaranteed survival.

And unfortunately, Southampton’s form so far this season suggests that they may go into January needing another inspired piece of business to boost their hopes of staying up.