Mauricio Pochettino has just three hours of football left to prepare his Saints squad for what he hopes will be a glorious season in the Premier League.

The Saints boss has led his men out to Spain for the second time this summer where they are now preparing to face Celta Vigo tomorrow night.

After that they have just one pre-season game left, their only home match of the summer, as they take on Real Sociedad at St Mary’s a week tomorrow.

Top of Pochettino’s wish list is to try and get Gaston Ramirez and Maya Yoshida involved again.

The pair were given extra time off after participating in the Confederations Cup during the summer, and have not played since.

Saints are desperate to get them some game time with their teammates, but are very wary of burning them out.

They both face a long season, domestically and internationally, and were hoping to play a part in the last friendly against Besiktas.

However, Saints have been carefully monitoring them and decided they were not quite ready. They are now in line to take on Celta Vigo.

It is a big concern for Pochettino.

Not only will he be unable to consider them for selection for the season opener against West Brom, unless he considers them fully fit, but he also has to keep in mind they are also likely to play against each other just days before the start of the season.

Yoshida’s Japan take on Ramirez’s Uruguay in Rifu on the evening of Wednesday, August 14 in a friendly. Continued on page 59 The season starts on Saturday, August 17.

Both players are expected to be called up for their nations and face a 24 hour round trip – and then the prospect of attempting to play at The Hawthorns.

It is all leading Pochettino to wondering whether he can even realistically include them in his pre-season plans – as he can’t be sure they will be ready to start the campaign.

As well as looking at what he’s got, Pochettino will also use the last two games to evaluate whether he needs to strengthen the squad further.

So far Saints have made two big money additions, but with ambitions to qualify for Europe via the league they may yet consider at least one further major signing and potentially more.

The transfer window closes at the end of the month but Pochettino is keen to get the business done as early as possible, with Saints eager to make use of a kind opening run of fixtures to give their campaign a real kick start.