But having lost the likes of Luke Shaw, Dejan Lovren, Adam Lallana, Sadio Mane, Victor Wanyama and Morgan Schneiderlin in recent years, Krueger is adamant he will keep this squad together.
Speaking ahead of Manchester United’s visit to the south coast today, he told FourFourTwo: “We do not need to sell anybody.
“Here we sit in the summer of ’17 and we now have 18 top, or above average, Premier League players under three or more year contracts.
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“We actually have 12 players that have more than four years, so 49 months, left on their contract and even a couple with 61 months. So 18 players having more than three years, gives us control over the summer for the first time.
“We will decide if anybody goes and we will decide who comes in, in the best interests of the club. We do not need to sell any player for the first time since I’ve been here.
Southampton chairman Ralph Krueger is adamant the club do not have to sell any stars this summerGetty ImagesManchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool are all chasing Virgil van DijkPA:Press AssociationVirgil van Dijk looks set to stay with Southampton next seasonPA:Press Association Archive
“I can make that statement and – unless football decides it’s in the best interests – we don’t need to do that.
“I think that we’re moving into a new era at Southampton football club after three-and-a-half years of building this foundation of depth, where we have more than 25 players that can play a Premier League game.
"We now need to consolidate. We're going to do everything possible to keep the core in place because the one thing that has been lacking here is developing synergies within the squad because of the changes.
"It has been difficult to maintain the synergies we would see at times during the season.
Luke Shaw is one of the stars Southampton have offloaded in recent yearsPA:Press AssociationMorgan Schneiderlin is another star that Southampton have offloaded in recent yearsGetty Images
"I think that's one of the reasons we would like to keep the core in place to give the synergies an opportunity, and we are extremely hungry to push back into Europe next year.
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