MANAGER Ralph Hasenhuttl insisted he had “big targets” with Saints in the future and hinted at a quest to reach Europe.

The Austrian boss was speaking after sending the St Mary’s side to fifth place in the Premier League, with 17 points after nine league fixtures.

Saints are currently four points ahead of Sunday’s opposition in Manchester United – a club the Austrian has been tipped to manage in the future.

But when asked if he aspired to manage a club like United one day, the 53-year-old signalled his intentions for Saints.

Hasenhuttl said: “No, a club of Man Utd, not. But maybe a Champions League club or a Euro League club.

“But that doesn’t mean that I cannot manage this club and go there.

“I have big, big targets with this club here.”

He added: “To speak of the international spots in the Premier League (ie Euro spots) it’s not really helpful because when you speak of the names you’re competing with, I don’t have to tell you, there are six spots normally and you can fight for the seventh one.

“It’s not really a target you can seriously take. But you never know.

“At the moment we have a good average of points. We have nearly two points average, this is definitely an average of points you can reach international spots.

“Our goal is to keep this average of points as high as possible.”