Ralph Krueger: I’m really confident Ronald Koeman will be Southampton manager next season

Southampton chairman Ralph Krueger has expressed his belief that Ronald Koeman will still be in charge of the Saints next season.

The Dutch boss has impressed since taking charge of the South Coast club in the summer of 2014, winning 40 of his 86 games in charge, and leading them to a seventh placed finish last season.

The Saints are on course to better that league placing this term, and Koeman has done all of this work whilst constantly losing his best players to bigger teams in the Premier League.

The 53-year-old’s impressive work has seen him tipped as a future manager for any of the biggest European sides, and Koeman himself reportedly wanted the vacant Chelsea job, before Antonio Conte was confirmed as the Blues’ new boss.

However, chairman Krueger has no intention to lose the manager who has worked wonders at St Mary’s Stadium, and he believes the Dutchman will still be in charge of the Saints next season.

“Next year? I'm really, really confident he will still be manager," Krueger said, when pressed about Koeman’s future.

"Beyond that, those are the conversations we're having now and they're really good. I like where we're at. We're in a whole different place than where we were a few years ago.”

Southampton’s growth has been prevented by the constant loss of their best players, but Krueger wants to see the core figures in the team remain at St Mary’s for the foreseeable future.

The former Ice Hockey player added: "We can speak about what was lost but look at the talent we brought in - Virgil (van Dijk), (Sadio) Mane, Victor (Wanyama) - these players are not even near their prime yet.

"I see keeping the core together as our vision and to keep those players in place and let them evolve and get them excited about doing that, that's in the air and that's what we're fighting for."