BOSS Ralph Hasenhuttl has warned it is time to stop dreaming and face the reality that the Saints squad needs more experienced depth if the club wants to move to the next level.

Having sat top of the Premier League in November, Hasenhuttl's side saw their progress falter on the back of a deepening injury crisis.

Spanish midfielder Oriol Romeu has been ruled out for the rest of the campaign after suffering a fractured ankle in the 3-0 defeat at Leeds on Tuesday night.

On-loan Liverpool forward Takumi Minamino is another not available for tomorrow’s trip to Everton after he picked up a hamstring problem having come on during the second half at Elland Road.

Kyle Walker-Peters, Theo Walcott and Ibrahima Diallo are still not match fit, while promising youngsters Will Smallbone and Michael Obafemi are both long-term absentees.

Swiss teenager Alexandre Jankewitz could be drafted back into a depleted midfield at Goodison Park, having recently served out a ban for his red card in the 9-0 thrashing at Manchester United.

Hasenhuttl, though, accepts genuine progress up into the top half of the Premier League can only be built around enough experienced cover, rather than having to rely on the promise of the next generation.

He said: "What is the conclusion for the future? We definitely see that we have a lot of young players, they are not (ready) to help us immediately, so we need to have a bigger squad in the future, this is what we know.

"Therefore you need maybe a lot of money to get this, otherwise it is tough to get players that can help you immediately in the Premier League.

“It is not the time to dream, it is about the time to see the realities.

“I really like to develop young players, to push them to become (at) one time Premier League players, but it is not so easy.

“A Premier League player has something special and you cannot make from every young player a Premier League player, this is not possible.

“This is what we have seen now and definitely we have to find the right changes for the future.

“Because otherwise we will always end up in a situation that we have two or three good months to step up, and then this is enough for staying in the league, or for being in a comfortable position, (but) then end up being between (place) 10 or 20.

“This is not what we want here. We want to be more successful and this is only possible if you have a bigger squad and better players in the width (depth) of the squad.

“This is the goal for the future I think, otherwise you will never make a step forward.”