Southampton: 'Fully expect' - Fresh claim on Ralph Hasenhuttl's future

Former Premier League midfielder Carlton Palmer ‘fully expects’ Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl to remain at the club and ‘sign a new contract’.

The 54-year-old’s existing deal is set to expire in the summer of 2024 and has previously hinted that he may retire after it reaches its conclusion.

Hasenhuttl arrived at St. Mary’s back in December 2018 and guided them to an impressive 11th-place finish in 2019/20, and they are currently sitting in midtable this time around.

However, the Austrian tactician’s tenure on the south coast could be drawing to a conclusion after he revealed in a recent interview that he’s likely to call it a day when his current contract ends.

“I always wanted to prove to myself that I could very well work for a club for a longer period of time,” he told German outlet Kicker, (as relayed by Hampshire Live):

“Hopefully, it will be five and a half years here, that’s a damn long time in modern football, and then that’s probably it.

“Five and a half years in the Premier League, that’s a lot of energy, regardless of job satisfaction. I can’t imagine that I want to do anything else in the coaching job after that.”

Despite Hasenhuttl’s comments, Palmer is confident that the former RB Leipzig boss will put pen to paper and commit his future to the Saints, carrying on the ongoing project for the ‘foreseeable future’.

He told GiveMeSport: “Ralph has come out and stated that he’s very, very happy in Southampton, and his family loves living in Southampton.

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“I played down in Southampton, and I can understand why you would say that. The fans are tremendous, they’re tremendously loyal, it’s a lovely club, it’s a