GRAZIANO Pelle insists he wants to remain a Saint - and is focused on ending his 14-hour goal drought and keeping the Europa League dream alive.

The 30 year-old Italian striker, who is under contract until the end of next season, has been linked with a move to Serie A giants Juventus and Lazio.

“I’ve never spoken about going away but there have been voices from journalists,” he said.

“It’s nice to hear, it means you’re doing something well, but I never really thought of going anywhere else while I’m contracted to Southampton.

“I’m not that stupid to hope to go away. The Premier League is the best competition and Southampton is a really good club to settle in.

"Everyone is friendly, people are behind you. Hopefully I will stay here, we’ll see how it goes.”

Asked if he would like to finish his career at Saints, Pelle said: “I’m in good condition and will hopefully play a lot of years more but football is so nice because it’s so unpredictable.

“I don’t know what I’ll do. When I was at Feyenoord they asked me if I will come back at the end of my career and they asked me if I would finish my career at Lecce.”

Pelle’s main priority is ending a goalless run that now stands at 844 minutes. After scoring nine goals in his first 16 games of the season, he is without one in his last 13 - a run of games that included playing through the pain of a knee injury earlier this year.

He explained: “It was my first time getting injured, I’d never been injured in my life, so those two months, almost three, was a struggle. We couldn’t really find out what it was.

“In the end it was simple and nothing to worry about. It’s important now to get in good shape. I’ll soon be on my level, hopefully.”

Pelle last scored in the 2-0 win against AFC Bournemouth at St Mary’s on November 1.

“It’s part of what can happen to a striker but I’ll be there [at Stoke City today] with the right mentality and focused to score because I know how important that is for a striker.

“A goal is a goal - hopefully I can get a nice shinpad goal!"

With Euro 2016 on the horizon, Pelle continued: "Italy for me is an important target but the most important thing is to do well at Southampton.

“We want to reach European competition. We know we have a good enough squad so have to stay focused on that.

“We’re a strange team, up and down sometimes. The last three games have not been the best but we are confident about our quality.

“We have to be more consistent, every single player and as a team."