SHELL-SHOCKED Harry Redknapp reacted to the sudden £7m sale of Peter Crouch by saying Saints need FIVE new signings if they are to stand a chance of winning promotion.

Redknapp turned up at Staplewood yesterday UNAWARE his star striker was heading to Merseyside.

It was only later after training that he found out the 6ft 7in hitman, left, had gone.

Redknapp had been desperately hoping to keep hold of Crouch to boost his hopes of promotion back to the Premiership at the first attempt.

But he now faces a major restructuring job, just over two weeks ahead of the new season, having lost 13 senior players this summer and signing just two.

He said: "We aren't going to get up unless we get some players in.

"I've lost 13 and they weren't exactly my worst team either.

"We need to bring some players in here.

"We've brought in £9m from selling players now and saved on 13 wages on the wage bill and all we've brought in is two free transfers.

"Everybody's having a go at this league this year and we've got to make sure we join them.

"It's all about what we need to do between now and the start of the season.

"It's no good waiting for something to happen, we've got to bring in quality in here or it's going to be a difficult season.

"We need four or five players in here to try and get up.

"We know that and the chairman knows that and it's where we go from here."

Explaining Crouch's confused departure - Saints had put up a story on their website in the afternoon saying the player was in the team to play Eastleigh last night - Redknapp said: "He didn't turn up for training and that was the first I knew about it really.

"It's difficult. Deals are not done by football managers anymore, that's above our heads.

"The chairman did the deal and it's a lot of money but it's a board decision, not my decision.

"I'd have love to have kept him."

Redknapp added: "He's (Lowe) got some business on so I got a message a little while ago that they'd agreed terms with Liverpool and that's where things are now.

"I haven't had contact with anybody."

Redknapp, who watched Saints beat Eastleigh 4-0 last night, added: "Crouch was my key player. I felt we had a chance of going up.

"But £7m is a fantastic offer and the club's decided to take it.

"I've lost Camara, Phillips and Crouch who were my top strikers last season.

"Crouch and Phillips would have got 50 goals between them in this division and you need that if you're going to get out.

"If I was the manager of any other team in this league I would think my Christmases had come at once when you see the players we've lost.

"Iain Dowie still has (Andrew) Johnson and Nigel Worthington's got (Dean) Ashton - if they had sold either of those I'd have been sitting here thinking 'fantastic.'"

Redknapp fielded three trialists last night - Polish centre half Thomasz Hajto, 32, and ex-Portsmouth midfielder Valery Mezague came on in the second half at Eastleigh and Monaco's French midfielder Sebastien Carol was handed a 45-minute run-out at Weymouth.