Double blow for Saint Le Saux

Graeme Le Saux’s season could be over and his future at Southampton plunged into doubt as new manager Paul Sturrock starts to redesign his squad for next term.

Former England full-back Le Saux, 35, who joined Saints as part of the deal which took Wayne Bridge to Chelsea in August, damaged a hamstring yet again after just nine minutes of Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat by Bolton.

He will certainly miss next Saturday’s visit to Stamford Bridge where he was hoping to show former fans how well he has settled in at Southampton.

And Sturrock admitted: “Judging by how long he was out before with the hamstring there would be no point in rushing him back now.”

And although Le Saux, who has missed 19 games with the injury and related problems in a foot, has impressed for Saints his age could tell against him in Sturrock’s rebuilding plans.

Scotland winger Neil McCann could be another player under pressure. The £1. 5m (€2.26m) winger, signed from Rangers after a long chase by former Saints manager Gordon Strachan, has not even been in the squad since the defeat at Portsmouth more than a month ago.

And asked whether he will be given another chance before the end of the season, Sturrock said: “I'm not telling you.”

Sturrock, who reveals his priority is making Saints stronger in midfield, admits: “It is very difficult to get a blend in there at the minute. We are looking for different shapes.

“We have had a discussion (with chairman Rupert Lowe) about, basically, what areas of the team need improving and our scouts are out there.

Sturrock is glad to have Latvian striker Marian Pahars back fit again after a season wrecked for him by groin and ankle injuries.

He scored only his second goal of the campaign on Saturday, but Sturrock is experimenting with him playing behind the main front men, James Beattie and Kevin Phillips, who have hit 27 goals between them.

Sturrock, who celebrated with his former Plymouth Argyle players on Saturday night after they had clinched promotion from the Second Division under new boss Bobby Williamson following Sturrock’s switch to St. Mary’s last month, said: “I’m very hopeful of adding new players to the squad before the start of next season.”

Defeat by Bolton virtually killed off Southampton’s remote hopes of qualifying fifth in the table for next season’s UEFA Cup.

Sturrock said: “With a game in hand we’ll still fight right to the end to win as many as possible this season but that has got to go in hand with some more experimentation.

“Maybe not against Chelsea so much next week. I think that might be a bit unwise, but there will certainly be opportunities for other players to turn my head in the other games.”

Sturrock could have Sweden centre back Michael Svensson back for the Chelsea game even though he has pulled out of his country’s friendly against Portugal on Wednesday, still recovering from the calf strain that has kept him out of six games.

But midfielder Rory Delap is a major doubt for the Republic of Ireland’s trip to Poland after tweaking knee ligaments on Saturday and could also miss out at Chelsea.