Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl is “positive” the club will find a solution to keep contract-rebel Danny Ings at the club.
Ings, 29, is out of contract in 18 months and stalling on signing a new deal, amid suggestions he wants to give himself the best possible chance to joining a Champions League club, should the opportunity arise.
Tottenham are among the sides monitoring Ings’ situation, having seen an enquiry rebuffed by Southampton last summer.
Hasenhuttl accepts the speculation will inevitably continue while the England international continues to stall on putting pen to paper but believes Ings wants to stay put.
“As long as there is no signing of the contract, a new one, [the question] will not stop I think,” he said.
"I can only say that we want him to stay here. We've shown as a club that we want him to be here, definitely, and he's shown signals that he wants to stay with us. So I'm still positive that we're fine together for the future.
"We also showed him what we don’t want. Every time the contract of a player comes to an end, the power goes to the player but I think it’s not that easy.
"For us, it’s important to show him we don’t want him to sell him. We don’t want to sell him next summer. We want him to stay with us.
"I don’t want to say we’re responsible for this but we helped him to be that strong. It’s always a win-win situation if we can find [a solution] together."
