LONDON, Sept 18 ― Southampton's Danny Ings is not interested in leaving the club, with manager Ralph Hasenhuettl describing speculation regarding the striker moving away from St Mary's as “absolute nonsense”.

Saints' top scorer with 25 goals in all competitions last season, Ings has been linked with Tottenham Hotspur by British media ahead of Sunday's Premier League clash between the sides.

“I don't know how often I spoke last season about Ings and how important he is,” Hasenhuettl told a news conference today. “All I want to say is that there is zero interest from Danny to go anywhere.

“He is 100 per cent happy to be here and, for us, it's 100 per cent not discussable that we (allow him to) leave. (He's) one of the best strikers in Europe. Any rumours are absolutely nonsense.”

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Southampton, who came 11th last season after a late surge, have started this campaign with two defeats ― losing to Crystal Palace in their league opener before being eliminated in the League Cup second round by second-tier Brentford on Wednesday.

“It was not the start we wanted to have but when you step out of pre-season you do not know what level you are,” said Hasenhuettl.

“When you compare us to the end of last season we are not where we hoped to be. There are some reasons for that but we have to use the games we have to get back to that level.”

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Hasenhuettl will be without Nathan Redmond against Spurs after the winger suffered an ankle injury in the 2-0 home loss to Brentford.

Scotland midfielder Stuart Armstrong could return, however, having resumed training after recovering from a thigh injury. ― Reuters