Mark Hughes leads race to take over at Southampton after the sacking of Mauricio Pellegrino

Southampton are looking for an experienced manager to steer them to safety

Mark Hughes is the favourite to take over at St Mary’s (Getty)

Mark Hughes is firmly in the driving seat to take over at Southampton as the south-coast club look for a Premier League veteran to steer them to safety.

The Welshman was sacked by Stoke in January with the Potters in the bottom three, having posted comfortable mid-table finishes in his previous four seasons in Staffordshire and three of those in the top half.

Hughes is understood to be keen to return to management and believes Southampton to be a well-run club blessed with talented players that he had targeted – and missed out on – during his time with Stoke.

But there are questions as to whether Saints are ready to commit long term to the former Wales, Blackburn and Fulham boss or whether they see him as a firefighter.

Southampton’s predicament, and the fact that Hughes is the strongest candidate that ticks their boxes, means that the 54-year-old manager holds some leverage over the club he played for more than 50 times in the 1990s.

Slaven Bilic and Marco Silva, two other recently fired Premier League managers, are not thought to be in the running. Benfica are planning a run at former Watford head coach Silva should Rui Vitoria fail to win the Portuguese title.