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Ralph Hasenhuttl coy on potential Kyle Walker-Peters, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg swap

Hasenhuttl coy on potential Walker-Peters, Hojbjerg swap
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Tottenham's Kyle Walker-Peters has impressed during a loan stint at Southampton.

Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl refused to discuss the possibility of a swap deal between Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and loanee Kyle Walker-Peters.

Hojbjerg, who has been stripped of the captaincy after refusing a new deal at St Mary's, is reported to be keen on a move to Tottenham and Walker-Peters, who is on loan from the north London club, could be used as a makeweight in the deal.

The young right-back has impressed in his temporary stint at Saints and Jose Mourinho has said he would allow the player to leave if that is what he wanted.

But, with three games in six days to prepare for, the first a home match with Brighton on Thursday, Hasenhuttl is not focusing on transfer rumours.

"I don't concentrate so much on the transfer market to be honest," he said. "I know we have some targets but it is such a busy time, I have to focus on getting a performance from my team and the opponents we are facing.

"It costs a lot of energy at the moment to find the right game plan. You can imagine if you are playing teams like (Manchester) City and United you need a perfect game otherwise you have no chance.

"So there is a lot of preparing, especially with two or three days between games.

"My scouts are giving me some information in the players that are of interest to us, we are busy in the background."

The Austrian did concede his recruitment department were looking at centre-backs this summer, with the transfer window due to open on July 27.

But again he declined to comment on speculation linking Southampton with Real Valladolid defender Mohammed Salisu.

"It's right that we are looking in this position, but I don't want to discuss or agree to these rumours," Hasenhuttl said. "We always have some players in our minds and centre-back position is a position we want to do something.

"I think we have a little longer transfer window maybe to face, it's important we don't make as many signings but the signings we will make they must be perfect.

"We can be earlier, this season we can do it because we are on the safe side of being in the Premier League next season, last season it was different. We try to take this advantage and get the right players at the right moment."

It is a quick turnaround for Saints following their impressive late 2-2 draw at Manchester United on Monday night.

There are no fresh injuries, with Jan Valery (muscle), Moussa Djenepo (calf) and Sofiane Boufal (thigh) still missing.

"No injury news, no new ones," the boss added. "A few tired players now, this is the bigger issue. It is a very short time to recover, we had a very intense game, we ran much more than the opponent. It was a very intense game."

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TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Manchester CityMan City97202091123
2Liverpool97111751222
3Arsenal95311710718
4Aston Villa95311611518
5Chelsea95221911817
6Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton94411612416
7Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest9441117416
8Tottenham HotspurSpurs94141810813
9Brentford94141818013
10Fulham93331212012
11Bournemouth93331111012
12Newcastle UnitedNewcastle9333910-112
13West Ham UnitedWest Ham93241316-311
14Manchester UnitedMan Utd9324811-311
15Leicester CityLeicester92341317-49
16Everton92341016-69
17Crystal Palace9135611-56
18Ipswich TownIpswich9045920-114
19Wolverhampton WanderersWolves90271225-132
20Southampton9018619-131


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