It's a big season for Southampton. Despite every summer seeing a number of key figures leaving, the club always seem to evolve and put in performances. Last season was no different as the Saints finished an impressive sixth in the Premier League - securing Europa League football in the process.

This summer has seen the departure of Ronald Koeman, Sadio Mane and Graziano Pelle - three key figures of last season's success - but if any club can deal with it and move on, it's the men from the South Coast.

New boss Claude Puel has come in with a lot of experience from Ligue 1 and will be looking to sustain the club's league position from last year as well as have a real crack in Europe. New signings are inevitably going to be needed to strengthen the squad but if the Frenchman looks in the right places, that shouldn't be too arduous a task.

The former Nice manager may want to pursue what Germany has to offer his club so, with this in mind, here are FIVE Bundesliga players Southampton should sign before Deadline Day...

John Brooks

American Brooks was part of the Hertha Berlin side that qualified for the Europa League play-offs last season.

Since then, the centre-half has seen his side knocked out at the hands of Brondby, so he would surely be interested in another swing at playing in the groups with the Saints.

He's 23 and has 26 international caps for the United States national side, so could be one to look out for.

Niklas Sule

sule

Sule is soon to turn 21 but made his first appearance for Hoffenheim in 2013 - highlighting how much is thought of his ability in central defence.

At 6 foot 5 inches, he has the frame to compete in the Premier League and the German might just find himself swapping blue and white for red and white this summer.

Paul Verhaegh

Verhaegh is a dependable full-back and would provide good competition down the right for Cedric Soares.

The Dutchman has been at FC Augsburg since 2010, taking in Europa League football as recently as last season the as club were knocked out by Liverpool.

At 32, he'll be available for a fairly cheap price and would be able to share his Europa League experience with the Saints squad.

Raffael

With Graziano Pelle gone, the goal-scoring task is lying at the feet of Shane Long and Charlie Austin and that doesn't seem enough for the amount of games the club could end up playing this season.

Raffael has played in the Champions League with Borussia Monchengladbach and scored 13 goals in 31 Bundesliga games last season, so  he'd definitely be a good option for the South Coast side.

Salomon Kalou

Kalou

Premier League fans will remember Kalou from his days at Chelsea.

The Ivorian Champions League winner finds himself currently plying his trade at Hertha Berlin, playing as both a striker and winger, where he's been fairly decent.

He knows the strain combined Premier League and European football campaigns can cause as well as being an option up front. This is why he'd be ideal for Southampton.