Southampton manager Mark Hughes has ruled out a late August exit for out-of-form striker Manolo Gabbiadini, with transfer windows in countries like Spain, France, Germany and Turkey still open for clubs to sign players until the end of the month.
Despite such a strong start to life at Southampton, Gabbiadini scored only five goals in 28 Premier League appearances last season. He was a substitute in both of the team's first two fixtures of the new season, but was left out altogether for last weekend's Leicester defeat.
Hughes remains happy to keep the Italian, though, hoping that he'll improve if more opportunities come his way to build fitness and confidence.
"Gabbiadini struggled to a certain extent. We're conscious he hasn't had game time here and players sometimes need games and runs of games," the boss is quoted as saying by the Daily Echo.
"Some can hit the ground running when they come back from pre-season and find their form of previous season. But others need a little bit more time and a bit more opportunity in the first team to find that form we know they're capable of."
Hughes acknowledged that Gabbiadini has plenty of quality that can sometimes go unnoticed and urged the former Napoli man to take his chances.
"He's not very demonstrative as a guy, he won't scream and shout when maybe he should do just to make people aware that he wants the ball at the right time," the manager said.
"Maybe at times we're guilty of not giving him the service he wants but on other occasions he knows what he has to do as well as he can when he gets opportunities and he must not let opportunities pass him by."
Hughes generally commented that he is happy with the attacking options he has at his disposal and has 'no intention of letting anybody else out', including home grown Sam Gallagher.
"He's a young man with a lot of talent, power and pace. I expect everyone to push for places. They’re all strong players in their own right," he said said.
One player who has just left St Mary's is defender Sam McQueen, after completing a loan switch to Championship promotion-chasers Middlesbrough.