Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl fears star striker Danny Ings won’t play again this season

Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl fears star striker Danny Ings won’t play again this season due to a hamstring injury as England ace faces race against the clock to get fit for Euro 2020

  • Hasenhuttl admits he doesn’t know if Danny Ings will play again this season
  • Southampton’s star striker picked up a hamstring problem against Tottenham
  • The 28-year-old is yet to return to training and is a doubt for this summer’s Euros
  • Ings’ fine form has put him in contention to make Southgate’s England squad 

Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl does not know whether influential top scorer Danny Ings will play again this season, making him a major doubt for this summer’s Euros.

Ings was forced off by a hamstring problem in last week’s 2-1 defeat by Tottenham after scoring his 10th Premier League goal of the campaign.

The 28-year-old England international has not returned to training and will definitely be absent for Friday evening’s game at home to Leicester.

Ings pulled up with a hamstring injury during the club's 2-1 defeat by Tottenham last week

Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl (left) has admitted that he doesn’t know if Danny Ings (right) will play again this season after he picked up a hamstring injury last week

‘It (Ings’ injury) is not worse than it looked; I don’t know if he comes back for the last few games (of the season),’ Hasenhuttl said.

‘We have Liverpool and then five games in two weeks so we need every player.’

His fine form up front for the Saints has put him into contention for a place in Gareth Southgate’s 26-man squad.

However, should he fail to recover in time, Ings will cruelly have to watch the tournament from the comfort of his own home.

Ings scored his 10th Premier League goal of the season in the 2-1 defeat by Tottenham

Ings scored his 10th Premier League goal of the season in the 2-1 defeat by Tottenham

However, he pulled up with the hamstring issue not long after and was subbed off

However, he pulled up with the hamstring issue not long after and was subbed off

Before pulling up with a hamstring injury at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Hasenhuttl told Ings to ‘forget about making the England squad’ and instead focus on turning Southampton’s season around. 

‘This is always my job, to bring the best out of every player,’ the Saints boss said earlier this month. ‘If he has a (place in the) Euros or not, he is part of this club.

‘He has a contract with this club, so that contract means he has to do everything and just to help us, this is the deal we made. I don’t care about the mentality for the Euros – this is something like a bonus for him.

‘The most important thing is that he helps us win games, that he helps us in climbing the table. This is the deal we have with him, and so long as he is here, he tries to give his part to this deal and we give our part of the deal.

Ings is running out of time to force his way into Southgate's thinking before Euro 2020 in June

Ings is running out of time to force his way into Southgate’s thinking before Euro 2020 in June 

‘We offer him everything that is possible to make him better – and this is how it should be with every player.’

But Hasenhuttl feels Ings has all the qualities needed to make Southgate’s final 23-man cut.

‘Ingsy is definitely one of them (players in contention) and when he is fit, when he plays well and when he scores, then he must be part of this (England squad),’ Hasenhuttl added.