According to the Daily Mirror Saints have turned down a big bid for Swansea for Jack Cork, but they may be back.

Latest reports say that Saints have turned down a £3 million bid for Cork who would surely have wanted to go up until Decemeber after being frozen out after the arrival of Wanyama.

After being a close second to Schneiderlin in last seasons player of the year things looked bright for Cork until the arrival of Wanyama, even then it looked like it would not be Cork who made way, but not only was he dropped but completely frozen out playing only 12 minutes on the pitch up until Wanyama's injury.

Even since returning to the team Cork has put in a series of performances that have resulted in several man of the match accolades and has been one of the most consistent performers in the team over the past two months, however he has often inexplicably been the one to come off in the latter stages despite being one of the fittest players.

Again against Arsenal last night Cork was again a main contender for the man of the match, but with Wanyama close to a return he must fear being frozen out again unless Pochettino has changed his mind about being able to play him in the same team as Wanyama or perhaps it wasnt the managers decision to not play him.

I hope that Saints turning down the alleged bid signals that Cork is wanted at the club, with the manager's long term future open to speculation I truly hope Jack Cork decides to wait till the summer before making any decisions about moving on, perhaps the chance of a good FA Cup run will persuade him to do that.

For all his good points sometimes Pochettino has made some strange choices in team selection, he seemed reluctant to drop Rickie Lambert for a long time soldiering on with trying to play both him and Osvaldo in the same side with the result that neither prospered and the subsequent fall out from that.

Likewise Cork who couldnt even get on to the pitch up till Wanyama's injury, his 12 minutes being less than even Guly's game time in the premier up till December, given his form since its a strange decision from the manager, lets hope he has changed his mind now.

Photo: Action Images

SaintlyTim added 23:43 - Jan 29 I agree with all your points and when VW is back it would be good to see JC and MS in the same team. Not quite sure how this would work though.
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IanRC added 23:57 - Jan 29 Completely derisory bid from Swansea, what were they thinking. MoPo has much to learn still (think Osvaldo), his approach to Cork is one area he needs to address. Not sure what you seem to have against Rickie at the moment many times a better player than Osvaldo has been for us and should have remained first choice. I would agree he needs better support but some signs are there that Jay and Sam will start to pull their weight.

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montecristo added 23:59 - Jan 29 three million seems very little for Jack anyway, Swansea are having a laugh.. are they trying to say that there is a nine million difference between him and VW??? Jog on, swans..
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ExiledSupporter added 09:06 - Jan 30 Cork's importance to the squad is very considerable. He could have a key role in playing in front of MS and VW recycling the ball and moving it forward faster and more accurately than Wanyama. As things stand he could play a slightly more withdrawn role than that in theory played by Ramirez (but rarely seen) in the 10 position. The only draw back with JC is his non-existent goal scoring record, but surely that could be improved by concentrated training ground sessions of shooting. Swansea are no fools and given the value that they place on retaining the ball (for example when they visited us this season I think they had significantly more possession than we enjoyed) makes their interest a testament to Cork's skills. Selling Cork is unthinkable given our supposed ambitions...I think that how we deal with this unwelcome approach will say more about our ambitions than, for instance, selling Rickie to West Ham for £7m (discuss!)

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Jesus_02 added 10:10 - Jan 30 Cork was never for sale in the same way that Ramerez is not for sale either. I dont want to inspire a load of negative comments but I do think that Wanyama is a better player than Cork . However we dont live in a world of first 11 anymore. Players fitness and form will change over a season as will the oponants that we face. We now have 3/4 top quality central midfielders midfielders...its not something that as Saints fans we are used to. The same can be said for Ramerez.. people seem overly keen to ofload him but what happens when Lallana gets injured or needs to be rested? I said at the begining its a long season and the entire squad wll need to be used

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webberg added 10:50 - Jan 30 It would be madness not to play Cork at the moment. He is in the form of his life and has risen to the challenge. I confess that I'm not a fan of VW. When the opposition has the ball he is useful to us. When he has the ball, he is a liability to us. Cork is much more reliable and I for one would not sell him (but I would sell VW).
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SaintNick added 11:06 - Jan 30 Couple of comments, firstly Jack Cork didnt seem to be considered a valuable member of the squad until Wanyama got injured, now we have found out that he is. With regards to Rickie you are right Rickie has contributed far more than Osvaldo, but we have to take into account that we paid £15 million for Osvaldo and Rickie is about to turn 32, he was our record signing, most clubs dont sign a player for £15 million then not play him properly

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BaselSaint added 11:35 - Jan 30 3 Million! Haha. But anyway, the question for the ambitious EPL teams like Saints is because you need two ``A``squads is how do you keep everyone happy and match fit? Not so easy....
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halftimeorange added 12:33 - Jan 30 Jack Cork is on the Saints website today where it is stated that our upturn in form is partly down to his performances. Hardly what you would expect if the club was about to sell him. I've always thought he'd make a decent ballet dancer but recently he's proved he can tackle and his ound is at its very best right now. We'd be mad to accept a bid of anything less than £10M.

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