Daily Echo:

Mauricio Pellegrino will today lead his players abroad for the first time as Saints jet off for a training camp in Austria.

The new Saints manager will use the time away to get know his squad better after just one week of pre-season under his belt.

While Pellegrino will have to wait a bit longer to see some of his star names - with the international players who played deep into the summer still away on holiday - he does have a decent roster of talent to work with.

Virgil van Dijk will be on the plane bound for Austria, as will the likes of Oriol Romeu and Shane Long.

Pellegrino’s focus for the week is to try and continue to instil his philosophy and way of playing on the players.

The majority of those players who have returned thus far came back in excellent shape, meaning fitness work can be kept to a minimum.

That will give Pellegrino a clear week with no other distractions to really get to work in training.

He wants to waste no time on working on the shape of the team, with the 4-2-3-1 system his preferred formation for next season at this early stage.

Pellegrino also wants the team to play high tempo, pressing football, which will require plenty of work in training to perfect.

The fact that he has the players away from home also gives him the chance to bond with them, and hold regular meetings.

Pellegrino is known for his regular and open lines of communication as a manager, and likes to discuss all aspects of play with his squad as well as his staff.

Saints will play one key friendlies while they are in Austria, but it will very much be about blowing off any rustiness after more than seven weeks without playing. No player is likely to see more than 45 minutes of action in the match.

After a week in Austria, Saints are back at home for a week.

There will be a couple of days of respite for the players before a return to action at Staplewood as more of the squad filter back.

Saints then have their first domestic pre-season fixture away to Brentford before jetting off to France to step up preparations, and then finishing up back in England before the big Premier League kick-off on August 12.