Southampton boss Ralph Hassenhuttl has questioned why he would let Che Adams leave this summer after his fine goalscoring start to the new season. Everton have been linked with making a move for the striker.
Adams scored twice on Tuesday as the Saints secured their safe passage through to the third round of the Carabao Cup with a 3-0 win at League One side Cambridge United. He did the same on Saturday as he stepped off the bench to earn Hassenhuttl's side a 2-1 triumph at Leicester City.
Nottingham Forest and Leeds United are also rumoured to be interested in signing the Scotland international. But when asked after the win over Cambridge if he wanted Adams to stay at St Mary's this season, Hasenhuttl's simple response was: "He’s our player. He was last season the second best goalscorer in our team, why should we let him go?
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"He enjoys this position I think, alone up front in the middle. He’s always alone in the box and this is where he has his strengths.
"This is a good message from him to show up here, show that he is always the guy here who can score his goals. We know what we have with Che [Adams] and after a not so good pre-season, he is now on fire."
Everton also booked their place in the Carabao Cup third round with a 1-0 victory at League One outfit Fleetwood Town on Tuesday. But it was a game which again demonstrated their lack of killer touch in front of goal.
And afterwards Blues boss Frank Lampard said: “We need to improve there and the reality is, we need help in the squad there. We’ve got a good squad that we’re building, there’s a core, there’s a feeling of strength and solidity to it, especially in the Premier League games we’ve seen and I like that but it’s clear and obvious we need to be better in the final third.
“There’s the players that we have here now and if we can help to improve that with personnel, it’s absolutely an area we’re focussed on for sure.”
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