BOSS Ralph Hasenhuttl insisted “power moves to the players” when their deals are set to expire at clubs and added: “This is a horrible situation.”

The Saints manager was speaking after this summer seeing Danny Ings and Jannik Vestergaard sold for a combined £45million, with the pair’s contracts at St Mary’s both set to run out next summer.

Hasenhuttl continually stated the St Mary’s side were in negotiations with the pair, when last season asked about them signing new deals on the south coast.

But with the risk they could have left for free in 2022, Saints opted to cash in on two of their star players and rebuild with some fresh faces.

Asked what he learned about modern-day players from dealing with, in particular, with the saga surrounding Ings, Hasenhuttl said: “One thing that is for sure, when players are going into the last one or two years in the contract, the power moves to the players and away from the clubs.

“This is because of the rule we have since Bosman that players at the end of the contract are completely free.

“This is a horrible situation for a lot of clubs in football and it leads us to this situation we are in at the moment, where there are a lot of clubs struggling.

“We are not the only club who tries to extend contracts from players. They one time cost a lot of money and then don’t want to stay with you anymore.

“You have to add the wages to the transfer fee you paid for them and this is the total amount of money that you have spent for this player.

“For us it is very important that we get something for players when they are coming in the last year. That leads us to the situation we have been in.

“That doesn’t mean that we want to sell under the price we have because we developed these players, we make them better, they are on maybe some of the best levels of their careers like Ingsy at the moment. He was never that good like he has been with us.

“Yes, it is also understandable for the player that they want to go somewhere else and make more money or whatever and take this instead of being a legend in this club forever.

“This is modern football, this is how it changed. We as managers have to accept it and find alternatives. This is our goal.”

While Ings sealed a £30m switch to Aston Villa, Saints recruited £15m Adam Armstrong from Blackburn as a replacement for the England frontman.

Armstrong has even taken Ings’s old squad number at St Mary’s and got off the mark with a goal against Everton in Saturday’s 3-1 Premier League defeat.

Speaking about his new striker, Hasenhuttl said: “He is definitely coping with it. He has the same number on his shirt and he doesn’t care because he knows he can score goals.

“It is on us to bring him in the position to go there and we know that Ingsy was here for two years until he started scoring for us.

“We have enough time, Che Adams has enough time to develop himself and we know that it is not so easy to step into the Premier League and immediately be there.

“The young lads will get all the time they need to develop.”