SAINTS manager Russell Martin claimed he now expects star man Kyle Walker-Peters to remain at the club beyond the summer transfer deadline.

Clubs in England can still trade players until the close of the summer window at 11pm on Friday, August 30 - an earlier deadline than previous years.

Walker-Peters, 27, was expected to leave Saints this summer despite the club's promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

Martin admits he had resigned himself to losing the two-time England international but insists interest from buying clubs has not materialised.

The boss said: "I think he's going to be here. I think all the interest that was there and the deals that might have happened have pretty much gone.

"That is unless someone decides really late that they want Kyle. We've offered him a new contract so when the window's shut maybe that will be another discussion. 

"If not, he needs to play in the same way he has done, the same way Stuart Armstrong and Che Adams did last year in the last year of their contracts. 

"They were fantastic for us and Kyle has been great, so I think everyone's really relaxed about it. He's played really well in the first two games.

"It's a bonus having him here when I think we had all sort of resigned ourselves to him leaving the building."

Walker-Peters has played 90 minutes in each of Southampton's opening two Premier League fixtures, impressing despite two 1-0 defeats.

The former Tottenham Hotspur man made his 168th and 169th appearances for Saints in the matches against Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest.