SAINTS are facing a massive summer in the transfer window, according to former Dell man Gordon ‘Flash’ Watson.

The 47-year-old reckons big work needs to be done and money needs to be spent overhauling a squad which only narrowly avoided relegation to the Championship last season.

Watson wants to see a player in the mould of Jack Wilshere come in to strengthen central midfield and the club to get rid of underperforming players.

On top of that, Flash wants Mark Hughes, who joined Saints as permanent boss on a three-year contract recently, to work quickly in the market.

“It’s a massive summer. You have a look at the squad and you could probably replace ten players from the squad,” he said.

“Hughes needs to get in early, like he’s done, and now he needs to get with the board and get with recruitment people and bring in the right type of people.”

Watson, who made 67 appearances and scored 14 goals for Saints in the 1990s, wants the club to prioritise attacking recruits.

“When I say attack, I mean the full backs have probably been our best attackers,” he said.

“Ryan [Bertrand] didn’t have a great season, Cedric did good but wide areas are attacking areas.

“We haven’t got a central midfielder who attacks, either.

“You have a look at [Oriol] Romeu, [Pierre-Emile] Hojbjerg, [James] Ward-Prowse, none of them are forward thinking attacking players on the ground or with the ball.

“We need someone like a Jack Wilshere figure, who can turn defence into attack very quickly.

“Passing forward directly along the ground, not hoofing it.”

Watson was pleased that Saints acted to bring in Hughes on a long-term contract after he successfully kept the club up in the Premier League after signing a short-term deal in March.

Now, he has urged Hughes to get rid of players who have not performed.

“I’m pro anyone who wins games and gets the players actually playing, to be honest,” he said.

“Because over the last two seasons the players have only played in fits and starts.

“Now he can get rid of the players who have not performed, get rid of the players who are past their sell-buy dates and bring in players who will put it in week in week out and know what you’re going to get prior to every game.”