SAINTS manager Nathan Jones has indicated that his new team will be busy in the January transfer window, telling the Daily Echo that “there are certain things we need and we need them quickly.”

The former Luton boss replaced Ralph Hasenhuttl more than a month ago but only now is preparing to take charge of his first home game thanks to the World Cup break. 

A busy week on their return to action sees Saints face Lincoln City in the League Cup round of 16 before getting back to Premier League business against Brighton & Hove Albion on Boxing Day. Heading into the rest of the season, Saints find themselves precariously placed second-bottom and two points adrift of safety.

And while Jones believes his squad has the quality to compete in the Premier League, he is hopeful of adding to his group when the January transfer window opens - with conversations inside the club already under way.

“Look, if you’re an organised football club, you do your recruitment well well in advance,” Jones explained to the Daily Echo. 

“My previous club we were six months in advance, always looking at windows, always looking at the next level, always looking at pushing boundaries. And here they are exactly the same. 

“We have one of the best recruiters in the world in Rasmus Ankersen and Sport Republic in how they do that. So we’ve been really regimented in what we want, we’ve been clear in what we want, what type of player, what position, everything we want. 

“We’ve narrowed that down and we’ll be having conversations to try and get those through the door as early as we can because there are certain things we need and we need them quickly. 

“So they are well in advance, any well organised, well run, diligent football club would have already done that weeks and months in advance. Obviously it’s been difficult for Southampton with the change in manager, only six weeks to restart, but we’ve restarted immediately.”

A promising first summer under Sport Republic’s ownership saw more than £60m splurged on nine permanent additions but despite reported late efforts to sign Goncalo Ramos and Cody Gakpo, Saints failed to address their lack of firepower up front.

Three months later and unsurprisingly they’ve paid the price for failing to secure a marquee striker with just 13 goals in 15 games. Saints fans will be hoping those issues are alleviated as soon as possible.

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