Mark Hughes: Southampton will have to sell before they buy in this transfer window

Southampton manager Mark Hughes says the club will have to sell players before adding to his squad ahead of the upcoming 2018/19 Premier League season.

Saints have already signed four players in this transfer window - defender Jannik Vestergaard from Borussia Monchengladbach, forward Mohamed Elyounoussi from FC Basel, midfielder Stuart Armstrong from Celtic and Manchester City goalkeeper Angus Gunn.

According to Sky Sports, those transfer fees reach £54.5m, while winger Dusan Tadic is the only Saints player to have left for a fee this summer, following his £10m switch to Ajax.

READ: Southampton’s WORST record transfer buys ranked

Speaking to the Daily Echo, Hughes said: “We will probably have to sell or allow players to go out of the club if we’re likely to bring anybody in now I would think.

”We’ve done OK. We have done early business which we are pleased about but you are always on the lookout.

”We’ve still got a couple of weeks before the start of the season and things present themselves as we know. We have to be ready if we are able to get in the right type of player who can help us.”

The Premier League and Championship’s summer transfer window now closes on 9th August, while the rest of Europe’s will remain open to the end of the month as before.

This means any Saints transfer business needs completing soon and Hughes warned there will be no outgoings from the club once the Premier League transfer window is over.

“I think players and agents will have to understand that once our window closes nobody is going out. That is going to be our stance.”