Southampton manager Ronald Koeman has claimed that the club have no plans to replace Steven Caulker, who cancelled his loan on Tuesday to join Liverpool.
The defender joined the Saints on a temporary deal from Queens Park Rangers in the summer, but struggled to make an impact having made just eight appearances.
Caulker will now finish the season at Anfield after he sealed a loan deal to join Liverpool's injury-hit squad.
"He didn't play a lot and I'm not the type of coach to complain and to stop his opportunity to play for Liverpool," Koeman told reporters. "Am I disappointed Steven didn't make more of an impact during his six months? No, he had some injuries.
"We won't replace him because everybody is looking for centre backs and we need players at the moment who make the team better, and not just to have numbers. We use young ones for numbers."
Liverpool's defenders Martin Skrtel, Dejan Lovren, Mamadou Sakho and Kolo Toure have all suffered injuries in the last few weeks.
Danielle Joynson
