MARK Hughes admits he is ‘very close’ to having the Saints squad he wants for next season, ahead of taking his summer spending to more than £50m.

So far Saints have splashed a whopping £33m on Stuart Armstrong (£7m) from Celtic, Mohamed Elyounoussi (£16m) from Basel and promising goalkeeper Angus Gunn (£10m) from Manchester City.

Now, they are on the verge of bringing Borussia Monchengladbach’s towering centre-back Jannik Vestergaard in for a fee of around £18m.

That will take Saints’ transfer window shopping spree to £51m and boss Hughes believes it is nearly mission accomplished in terms of shaping the squad.

This, the Welshman believes, puts Saints ‘ahead of the game’ with the transfer set to shut, under new rules, at 5pm (BST) on the Thursday (August 9) before the Premier League season starts.

“We’re very close. We’re in good shape. A lot of work has been done already, a lot of underlying work and ground work has been put in place and we’ve been able to get a few through the door already, which is quite early,” he said.

“When you look at everyone else, there’s not a lot of people doing any business and, in a World Cup year, we’re ahead of the game because it starts to churn a little bit when everyone starts to come back.

“We’ve been able to do good work before.

“It’ll be interesting to see how clubs react [to the new deadline] and if European leagues try and use that to their advantage when our window closes.”

Saints have been using the remaining cash from Virgil van Dijk’s record breaking £75m move to Liverpool in January to fund this transfer window.

However, the 54-year-old boss, heading into his first campaign at permanent Saints manager, wants to ensure the club aren’t just spending for the sake of spending.

Hughes has been working to ensure Saints have a well-balanced team and that the transfer policy does not block the ‘pathway’ for academy players.

Sparky believes Saints’ history of bringing through youth needs to be protected and buying in too many players will not help Staplewood’s youngsters' chances of playing first-team football.

“We’re always open to opportunities [in the transfer window]. You’ve got to be careful that you don’t use the market when there isn’t a genuine need for that type of player to come back in,” he said.

“I’ll refer back to the thorough processes behind how this club operates in terms of making sure we’ve got a real succession plan in place and potential players to come in if players move on.

“That’s right through the teams at the club. There’s a clear pathway for younger players as well if they progress and play well.

“We like to keep that open to young players in the camp because that’s been a real feather in the cap for this club.”

He continued: “We’re all looking for that balance. We’re always trying to pre-empt situations and every eventuality, which is very difficult, but that’s what we end up doing.

“We try to cover all basis, trying to make sure if at some point in the season players are missing through suspension or injury, you’ve got to have the right level of strength right through the first team squad to enable you to compete.”