Jay Rodriguez will not feature for Saints in their final game of the season at Manchester City.

The 25-year-old striker will travel with squad for the first time in this campaign for the last match of the season at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

But Saints will not risk giving him a comeback run out at the ground where he sustained the knee injury that has kept him for more than a year, and will instead focus on readying him during pre-season for the next campaign.

Saints boss Ronald Koeman confirmed: “Jay will travel with the team but he will not be part of the team, not on the bench.

“It’s too early in our planning Jay will be part of first to play some minutes in under-21s and take decision to wait until pre-season and that time we have a lot of friendlies to start playing football.

“He is close to be back, that’s true, and that’s why he travels with the team but not on the bench.”

Koeman also confirmed that Morgan Schneiderlin and Dusan Tadic will not be fit enough to figure at City.