Primarily, he touched upon the futures of Mario Lemina and Manolo Gabbiadini. After expressing a desire to keep Lemina in particular at the club, he made a more general comment concerning the rest of his squad.
“For all the other guys that are maybe part of speculations, we don’t want to speak a lot about speculations.”
“The players know what they have at Southampton, the players know what to expect from us. That’s the main part”, he added.
Steven Davis is certainly one of those subject to speculation. The Northern Ireland international has only started one Premier League this year and is reported to be on Rangers’ radar.
Initially frozen out under Mark Hughes, his situation hasn’t much improved under Hasenhuttl.
No decisions made just yet
Yet, the manager was at pains to say he hasn’t made any decisions yet. Just a few weeks into the job, he is still assessing his players.
However, crucially, he believes there are likely to be departures next month.
“When January comes, I will make the decision with which players I want to follow and who, maybe, will leave us.”
Clearly, Hasenhuttl is holding all the cards here. He doesn’t seem to be under any major financial pressure to offload and he is confident that the club is strong enough to retain it’s best talent.
Yet, Steven Davis is yet to appear under Hasenhuttl and it is clear that in midfield, his priority is holding onto Lemina.
Therefore, the major positive for Rangers fans, is that the club could be open to offers.
