Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl says he 'loves' Che Adams and has backed him to score more Premier League goals than last season, with the striker currently linked with a move to Leeds United.
The Whites are looking for a new striker after missing out on Charles De Ketelaere to AC Milan. Adams is one of a number of strikers to have been linked with a move to Elland Road, and The Athletic have reported that Southampton would be willing to let him go this summer.
Leeds were also heavily linked with Adams in January 2020, but a deal never materialised. The 26-year-old scored seven goals in 30 games for Southampton last season, but he was unused substitute in the Saints' heavy 4-1 defeat at Tottenham on Saturday.
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"Che scored his last goal in February," Hasenhuttl said at a fans forum. "That doesn't mean that he cannot score goals in the future. I love this player.
"I love the mentality of this player and I know that after his tough first year, the second year was much better and I think he is definitely able to score in the Premier League more goals than he did last season."
Saints CEO Martin Semmens also spoke about Adams' future, and while he didn't rule out the Scotland international moving on, he did rubbish claims that Leeds' Premier League rivals Everton are looking to sign the striker on loan.
"90 per cent of what you see in the media is not true," said Semmens. "The fact that Everton are trying to take our striker on loan - it’s not real, it won’t happen, don’t worry about that.
"From our perspective, we are massively comfortable with everyone we bring in. Everybody's here and we look forward to working with them.
"We will always do what is right. And if somebody leaves the club, we'll do it for the right reasons. But I wouldn't get too worried about an agent and Sky Sports and Twitter because most of those things aren't true, as you probably see, because most of the players we’ve signed you've not heard of until we actually do it.
"So that one isn't true when it happened. Don't worry."
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