RALPH Hasenhuttl slammed reports linking Tottenham Hotspur with a move for Danny Ings as "absolute nonsense".

The Saints striker was rumoured to be attracting interest from Spurs, after notching 25 goals last season.

But Hasenhuttl has moved to shut down any talk of the 28-year-old England international leaving St Mary's.

"I don't know how often I spoke last season about Danny Ings and how important he is for our club," said the Saints boss.

"The only thing I want to say about these rumours is there is absolutely zero interest from Danny to go anywhere. He is 100 per cent happy to be here.

"For us it is 100 per cent not discussable that we lose one of the best strikers and best players in Europe.

"Any rumours about that are absolute nonsense and I think hopefully this is the last time we speak about this."

He added: "He is the most important striker we have in our team - one of our own if you want.

"You know how much he likes to be here. He loves what we do here, he loves to play for us and the team loves to play for him."