Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl has explained allowing Nathan Tella to move on-loan to Burnley.

The 23-year-old has become a fan favourite at Burnley after scoring three goals in his first eight matches.

“Exactly, yeah. This is always the balance you have to find, you are fully convinced about this player but cannot give him the chance to develop," Hasenhuttl told theDaily Echo, when asked about Tella.

“The most important thing at this age is the guys are playing games every weekend, this is the only chance to make them better and bring them on to the highest level.

"This is not always possible – only sessions and training. This is why we decided to let him go. Hopefully we won't miss him for now.

“We have more than only these guys who are willing to learn and willing to do a good job. This should be normally the standard."

The Austrian added: "We get reports after every weekend, which is normal I think. We are also watching them, we have a few players now in the Championship and they are doing quite well.

"Nathan is scoring goals, Will Smallbone is always playing. This is exactly what we wanted them to do and we have them on our radar and we're very happy they get the chance to play."