Mauricio Pochettino doesn’t intend to discuss his future with Saints until the season is over.

He is adamant he wishes to focus on pushing his team to the highest possible Premier League finish.

Pochettino also reiterated that extending his current contract is not a priority to him, although he conceded the club may view it differently.

There has been fevered speculation as to whether the popular manager, whose deal expires at the end of next season, will remain at St Mary’s long term following the departure of Nicola Cortese in January.

There is also further talk as to whether Saints should tie down first teamers such as Jose Fonte, Jack Cork and Artur Boruc to new contracts with their deals set to run out at the same time as their manager.

Pochettino confessed he needs detailed discussions with those now running the club in order to make calm and informed decisions over his future.

He sees little way that could, or indeed should, happen during the run-in to the end of the season.

He said: “It (player contracts) should be and it is a priority for the club. I really can’t speak further about their situation, I can only speak about my situation.

“It is difficult to answer you.

“At the moment, we’re in the midst of finishing the competition as best as possible.

“I am not a manager to speak about individual situations when we’re in the middle of doing that, which also includes my own personal, individual circumstances.

“I think the fact that I still have an additional year on my contract is proof enough that we should be focusing on the league, focusing on the competitions.

“After these six weeks, then we can speak about things in a calm manner and I can get to know more how the club wants to move forward, what the new project at the club is and how we move forward from then on.

“With everything that has happened in January, with the arrival of a new team, a new vision for the football club, a new vision in a commercial and sporting sense, I don’t think it is time to be speaking about decisions or making abrupt decisions.

“I think once the season is over, we can make a deep analysis of how we want to move forward.

“We want to listen, especially more than anything to the new team, how they want to forward with the new team and from then on we can make a decision with the new team about how we move forward.”