Koeman will see out Southampton deal

Koeman was quoted on Tuesday as saying that he had previously been "very close" to the Barca dugout while also revealing the presence of exit clause in his contract.

Speaking at his press conference ahead of Wednesday's meeting with West Ham, Koeman refused to rule out a future move to Barca - with whom he spent six years as a player and two as an assistant - but insisted he has no pressing desire to leave Southampton.

He said: "Always Ronald Koeman is linked to Barcelona, that was, that is and will be in the future. I can't do anything about that, I have to respect my contract, I like to respect my contract and I'm very happy in my job.

"What happens in the future? The future doesn't mean next season, the future maybe means about seven years, you never know.

"Of course because I had a great time over there [Barca], that's normal that I have that feeling with them, and they have that feeling with me. There's no reason to be afraid about that."

Asked if he will see out his Southampton contract, Koeman replied: "Yes of course."

Koeman also confirmed that forward Emmanuel Mayuka is out for the season with a groin problem, while defender Matty Targett is a doubt for the West Ham game with head and neck injuries.

But there is positive news on new signing Filip Djuricic, who is in the squad after the Serbian finally received his work permit. 

"Filip Djuricic got his work permit yesterday [Monday], and he did a normal training session this morning.

"He's part of the squad for tomorrow. It's not normally good to have a player with one session in the last week but we miss eight, nine players. That means that's an exception to put Djuricic on the bench. If we need a quality player I can put Djuricic in."

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