Southampton boss Mark Hughes says new signing Mohamed Elyounoussi isn't a direct replacement for Dusan Tadic.

Elyounoussi signed for Saints this week as Tadic was being sold to Ajax.

"We're not viewing him as a direct replacement, he's a different type of player but he has similar traits as well," Hughes told the Daily Echo.

“He's not a like-for-like replacement, you can never get that, but I was sorry to see Dusan go, I really enjoyed working with him. He was really influential in what we did at the end of the season.

“But I sat down with him almost immediately after the end of the season and had a quick chat with him and tried to make him understand that if I was the manager next season, I'd loved to continue to work with him.

“He needed to understand that but he had this idea and this hope that he'd get this opportunity to play at a club like Ajax and maybe win titles and play in the Champions League.

“That's a big draw for these players and at the stage he's at in his career I wish him well, because now he's got the opportunity to tick some boxes he hasn't before."