MANAGER Ruben Selles has admitted that Saints have players other Premier League clubs will ‘come and look for’ while adding that relegation will require the club to ‘get rid of some players’.

The current Saints squad has reached a mammoth size of 30 players and regardless of the division they find themselves in next season, they will likely look to shed some of those numbers.

Of course, relegation to the Championship could mean that Saints are left helpless to stop their most important players from departing this summer rather than the ones they would ideally choose to move on from.

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Asked on Friday afternoon if he thinks Saints can keep their 'biggest' players in the Championship, Selles answered: “It’s a complex question. If we go to the Championship, of course, we have players who other teams in the Premier League will come and look for. 

“It’s not always easy to keep them for different reasons. In terms of budget, in terms of motivation for the players. 

“So it will be a very individual case but of course, when you take that step (down) you have to get rid of some players in order to make the best of the situation.”

Romeo Lavia, a revelation in his maiden season of professional football, has been linked to virtually all of the richest clubs in the country while captain James Ward-Prowse is amongst many members of the squad whose future is very much up in the air.

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Asked about his future following Monday night’s defeat to Nottingham Forest, Ward-Prowse told the Daily Echo: “I’m not looking to any of that.

"For me, it is about being focused on where we are now and giving my all for the club – which I always have done since I was eight years old.

“That doesn’t change. What happens beyond that, who knows? I don’t know. I’m just focused on doing everything I can in the next three games to give the club a chance of staying in the Premier League.”