Saints chief plays down exit rumours.
Southampton chairman Mauricio Pochettino has denied that record signing Gaston Ramirez will be leaving the club this summer, Sky Sports reports.
The Saints broke their transfer record when they paid £12m to bring Ramirez in from Italian side Bologna last summer, but the Uruguay international struggled to truly establish himself in the Premier League.
Borussia Dortmund and Atletico Madrid are both believed to be keen on landing Ramirez if he were to leave England, but Pochettino has no intention to sell the midfielder.
“He’s happy with us and we are counting on him for next season,” he said.
“It’s normal that a lot of clubs are interested in his quality, but we don’t listen to transfer rumours. We are planning for next season with him on board.”
Pochettino also said that the club’s signing of Lyon’s Dejan Lovren has ended their interest in Cagliari’s Davide Astori.
“Lots of names have been linked with Southampton, perhaps too many,” he said. “Some of them have been invented, others not.
“We were after Astori, for example, but in the end we went for Lovren instead. He’s a great player.”
The chairman also denied that the club had made a bid for Roma striker Pablo Osvaldo; “We are aware of his situation at Roma, but we haven’t made an offer.”