The emotion shown by Ralph Hasenhüttl following Southampton's win over Liverpool spoke to a man who has shed blood, sweat and tears to turn things around on the South Coast. 

Emerging as one of the most high-profile managers of the German school of pressing, the Austrian has completely transformed his club's fortunes over the last or year or so, with the Saints even topping the Premier League table for the first time back in November. 

As has always been the case for Southampton, however, other clubs are reportedly starting to take notice. 

Speaking on The Athletic's YouTube channel, David Ornstein suggested the former RB Leipzig boss was liked by a number of big clubs while discussing potential replacements for Frank Lampard at Chelsea. 

"Somebody who has built a really good reputation in the Premier League is Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhüttl," he said from 06:36 mark onwards. 

"So I think that, with a lot of big clubs and him, it's a case of watch this space."

Indeed, the 53-year-old has previously been mooted as a potential option for Manchester United and, given some of his team's exploits this season, it's not particularly surprising. 

FBRef have the Saints ranking second in the Premier League for successful pressures per game (44.6% of their actions come off) and tactics writer Michael Cox recently told the Zonal Marking Podcast that such a tactic was a crucial aspect in how top clubs want to play. 

Given the club spent relatively little over the course of the summer, Hasenhüttl's work on the coaching field has to be commended too.

Instead of completely revamping the team after their lowest moment in October 2019 (you know which game we're talking about), he's largely used the same group of players and driven them to success. 

The improvement of Jannik Vestergaard is a prime example. The Athletic claimed he was facing an exit from St. Mary's after a hard time of it on the South Coast but, this season, he's become a crucial part of the team's set-up, averaging the highest-number of clearances per game (4.4) via WhoScored

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Considering what's been said above, it's not hard to imagine a bigger club being keen on a move for Hasenhüttl. 

Saints fans will need little reminding that their highly-rated managers have tended to leave before with Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman being tempted away but Dan Sheldon has previously spoken of how happy the Austrian is with Southampton at the moment. 

Hasenhüttl himself suggested he couldn't think of a better job to have and that he feels at home with the club. 

Perhaps a day will come that he does depart but, right now, he appears to be building something.