Southampton suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat at the hands of Bundesliga outfit Augsburg in their latest pre-season friendly at St Mary’s on Wednesday night.

Hopes would have been high of a positive result after a 3-0 win against Saint-Etienne in France last weekend, but a first-half double from Michael Gregoritsch and second-half goals from Ja-Cheol Koo and Raphael Framberger ruined Mauricio Pellegrino’s first home match in charge of the side.

With just over a week left until the start of the Premier League season, there will certainly be concerns on the state of the current squad with Jan Bednarek the only arrival this summer and with captain Virgil van Dijk still training on his own after telling the south coast outfit that he wants to leave.

Pellegrino may well be considering adding some height and steel to his side before the summer transfer window closes at the end of the month after they struggled in the air against Augsburg, who only finished one point above the bottom three in the Bundesliga last term.

Here are three Southampton signings that would boost the weak spine of the team…

Wesley Hoedt

Saints have already been linked with a £12m move for Lazio centre-back Hoedt as a potential replacement for Van Dijk by the Daily Mail, and the Netherlands international would certainly bring some height and a good ability in the air to the Southampton defence as he stands at just under 6'4" tall.

The 23-year-old may not have been a regular in the Lazio side last season – he made 23 Serie A appearances – but he successfully won 52 of the 62 headed duels he faced and he would bring a real threat at both ends of the pitch for the south coast outfit in the upcoming Premier League campaign.

Jannick Vestergaard

If Saints do eventually lose Van Dijk this summer they will need to bring in a dominant defender in the air to replace the Dutchman with the likes of Jack Stephens and Maya Yoshida nowhere near as strong as the Southampton captain in that department.

Van Dijk won 96 aerial duels in 21 Premier League appearances before his season-ending injury in January, and Borussia Monchengladbach centre-back Vestergaard could prove to be the answer to the problem.

The 6'6" 25-year-old won 121 of the headed duels he faced in 34 Bundesliga outings last term while he also showed his threat in the opposition penalty area by also scoring four goals.

William Carvalho

While Southampton do have Oriol Romeu in the midfield who provides a bit of a physical presence and loves a tackle and an interception, the other central midfield options don’t offer the same attributes.

The likes of Steven Davis and Jordy Clasie don’t have the height and strength to provide a barrier in front of the central defensive pairing and the south coast outfit are still yet to replace Victor Wanyama, who was such an important player for them before leaving for Tottenham last summer.

Defensive midfielder Carvalho would certainly bring those similar 'powerhouse' attributes as he stands at 6’2” tall and won 34 aerial duels in 32 NOS Liga appearances last season.

Do you agree, Saints fans? Let us know below.