RALPH Hasenhuttl has praised Che Adams’s “fantastic” attitude.

The striker, who joined from Birmingham for £15m in the summer, is yet to break his goalscoring duck for Saints this season.

Having started the campaign as Hasenhuttl’s first-choice forward, the 23-year-old was eventually dislodged by Danny Ings.

Adams came on in the final 20 minutes against Aston Villa last weekend and provided the assist for Stuart Armstrong’s last-minute goal.

Asked whether it’s been difficult to keep the striker happy, Hasenhuttl responded: “Not really.

“He is a guy who is one day a little bit frustrated when he sees he doesn’t play but then when the game comes, he shows up immediately and this is fantastic.

“That’s why we brought him here.”

Adams’ last top-flight start came on Boxing Day against Chelsea but, prior to that, you have to go back to Friday, 20 September and the St Mary’s defeat to Bournemouth to find his last game as a regular fixture in the first team.

This lack of game time led to Championship outfit Leeds installing him as their No1 target in the January transfer window.

Although Saints made it clear from the outset that he wasn’t going to be sold, Marcelo Bielsa’s side continued to pursue the 23-year-old.

However, Hasenhuttl didn’t want to leave himself short in attack and wanted Adams to stay on the south coast.

Even though Saints’ manager understands the striker is itching to play, he views it as a positive scenario for himself.

Haenhuttl added: “I know how important he is. The frustration he has because he’s not starting is understandable.

“But for me, it’s a luxury problem to have four strikers for two positions.

“They are the guys who have to sprint the most, press the most, they have to cover the highest intense runs and the most distance and this is why they are normally the first guys substituted.

“It doesn’t matter if they’ve scored two, one or not. Then you need two good strikers on the bench and this helps you massively.”