SAINTS BOSS Glenn Hoddle missed out on a bid to bring Jari Litmanen to The Dell three months ago.

Hoddle revealed he had opened negotiations with Barcelona to bring the Finnish star to Saints on loan, only for Litmanen to opt at the time to stay at the Nou Camp.

The Saints boss had targetted the Finn - now at Liverpool - as a possible spearhead before James Beattie began his goal streak, and after losing out on Litmanen saw him go to the red half of Merseyside two weeks ago.

"The frustrating thing for me is that we were after Litmanen three or four months ago. We tried to get him in on loan, and he slipped through the net.

"He didn't come for whatever reason and he's gone to Liverpool but it wasn't for want of us trying.

"We spoke to him and his agent but at that time he decided to stay at Barcelona and his agent said he would only come to England to play for a club like Arsenal or Liverpool, but not ourselves.

"That's no detriment to us or to him, that's the way of the world. But it's frustrating to see him go somewhere else because he's a world class player."

Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier was keen to add Litmanen to a strike force that already boasted Robbie Fowler, Emile Heskey and Michael Owen.

Houllier claims that four strikers is a minimum for the Premiership, but despite his side's failure to crack a stubborn Charlton defence on Saturday, Hoddle says he is happy enough with his striking resources.

"We haven't got the resource or amount of money that Liverpool have got and If I lost a couple of strikers then maybe I would have to go into the market.

"But there's enough depth within the squad, Kevin Davies can play up front, and Matt Le Tissier has played there before, and we've also got Uwe Rosler and Adrian Caceres, who was sub on Saturday.

The young Australian of Argentinian descent significantly now has a squad number, and Hoddle said: "Adrian has got talent. He's coming along nicely, although he's got a lot of things to learn.

"He's showing in training that he's got something elusive in the last third and I think if he gets a good education until the end of the season there's no reason why he shouldn't be a class player."