Southampton appointed Mark Hughes as their new manager on Wednesday night, and some of the comments from  the Welshman in his first interview since the announcement will be gladly received by out-of-favour striker Manolo Gabbiadini.

While the Italy international made a blistering start to his Saints career more than a year ago, he has found form harder to come by in more recent times and he quickly fell down the pecking order under former boss Mauricio Pellegrino during the current campaign, with the likes of Charlie Austin, Shane Long and now Guido Carrillo ahead of him in the pecking order.

The 26-year-old has only started one Premier League match since December 16, much to the annoyance of the St Mary's faithful, and despite scoring the equaliser as a substitute in the 1-1 draw against Burnley last month, it wasn't enough to earn him a spot in the XI for the following match against Stoke City at St Mary's.

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Hughes will know Gabbiadini well having tried to sign him – along with many other of the south coast outfit's stars – when he was in charge of the Potters, and that should bode well for the attacker's chances for the remainder of the season.

Speaking to southamptonfc.com, the 54-year-old said: "If I'm honest I've probably tried to sign half of them so I know a lot of the quality that these players possess, and it's going to be good to get the opportunity to finally work with some of the players that I missed out on at previous clubs."

Gabbiadini will be hopeful that those quotes from the Welshman ensure that he will get more playing time between now and May – starting in the club's FA Cup quarter-final tie against Wigan Athletic on Sunday.