Ralph Hasenhuttl warns Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg he will lose Southampton captaincy if he enters last year of contract

Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has warned that Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg will lose the captain’s armband if he goes into the final year of his contract next season.

Hojbjerg has attracted interest from Tottenham but, with James Ward-Prowse and Danny Ings, was part of a senior group of Southampton players who agreed the first collective squad wage deferral following the Premier League’s suspension.

While Shane Long is poised to extend a contract which expires this summer, talks are now scheduled after the club’s remaining nine matches with Hojbjerg, Oriel Romeu and Ryan Bertrand, whose deals all expire next summer. Following their poor start to the season, a decision was made to pause certain contract negotiations in order to fully focus on avoiding the threat of relegation.

With 34 points and a seven point gap to the bottom three, Southampton should now avert what looks like a six-way fight for survival below them and the club are confident that agreements will be reached with key players. Hasenhuttl, though, stressed that he could not envisage a player who was running down his contract next season still being the team’s captain.

“As a captain, you cannot lead a team without extending your contract," he told BBC Solent. "This is always difficult. I think we should avoid letting players go without a transfer fee. It’s not good to go into the last year with only one year contract normally, especially when you are a young player with a big future. This is not an ideal situation but we have maybe opportunities to handle it. There will be talking in the future with some players and then we will find a decision with everybody.”

Southampton will be looking to permanently recruit a right-back later this summer following the loan deal for Kyle Walker-Peters but squad changes are likely to be minimal during what will almost certainly be a shortened transfer window.

There will be open to offers, however, for four of their highest-earning players currently out on loan – Guido Carillo (contracted to 2021), Wesley Hoedt, Mario Lemina (both 2022) and Mohamed Elyounoussi (2023).