When Jay Rodriguez was stretchered off Manchester City little did Saints fans think he would not have played again a year later.

When Jay Rodriguez was carried off after landing badly in an innoccuos challenge at Manchester City he had the Premier league at his feet, an England cap under his belt and a certainty to go to the World Cup in Brazil, not to mention the rumour of a multi million pound move to one of the big clubs or Tottenham.

Yet now after a year on the sidelines he now faces a time of uncertainty and if he is not careful he could find himself the forgotten man fighting to regain his fitness and form, he would not be the first promising player to fail to live up to his promise for one reason or another.

Saints have of course done the right thing by the player, they have offered him a new contract, yes it cannot be denied that it is to protect their own investment with Rodriguez deal running out in just over a year, but it is also securing the future of the player himself who would be safe in the knowledge that he has a big pay day for at least another four years whether he should recapture his form or not.

So far Rodriguez has failed to sign that contract and that is leading to the feeling amongst some supporters that he is a trifle ungrateful to the club who have paid him well for a year of doing nothing.

But it is far from certain at this time whether Rodriguez will return to his former levels of form and indeed fitness so at the moment the gamble in a new contract is all with Saints.

But in sitting tight and seeing what happens Rodriguez is risking his own future, there is a feeling that far from missing him this season Saints have moved on and indeed would prefer to cash in on their asset in the summer if the price is right.

There is the rub though, will the price be right and indeed are the big clubs (and Tottenham) truly interested in taking a risk on a player who may be crocked ?

The answer is one of pure speculation at the moment as are the transfer rumours that keep popping up sporadically, the truth is that most of these are nothing more than agents trying to stimulate interest in a player who if he is not careful will become the forgotten man.

If J Rod does not manage to play again this season then it will be very doubtful that any of the big clubs will try to sign him in the summer, at least not for a fee that would tempt Saints .

Of course if someone came in and offered £20 million for Rodriguez then I think Saints would snap their hands off, as i said i think in the year he has been out the squad has moved on and he is seen not as part of the plans but a bit of a wild card that may be available but is not being counted on, this being the case an offer of that magnitude would be stupid to resist.

But I dont think any club will be stupid enough to take that risk spending that much money on a player who they don't know if he is the same player as before.

This being the case I think that Saints will have to keep J Rod for season 2015/16, anything under the £8 million we paid for him on the table in the summer might mean we prefer to see what happens over the season and take the gamble that if he does return to fitness and form that it might be worth more than that to us in terms of League position and in that case we could get more than that in an auction in the summer.

But that is not security for the player himself, he will be under extreme pressure to perform otherwise he could find himself left on the shelf , many Saints players in the past have thought the grass greener on the other side and demanded moves to bigger clubs, but rarely has it proved to be as successful for the player than he would have hoped.

Comparisons here can be drawn with Kevin Davies in 1998, Davies himself was injured for the last half of the 1997/98 season and then was signed by Blackburn for a massive fee, but it never worked out at Ewood Park and he was back at the Dell within 18 months at a cut price fee.

Although he went on to have a long career in the Premier both with Saints and Bolton Wanderers he never quite became the player his first season at Saints promised.

So Jay Rodriguez should perhaps take note and consider whether loyalty to Saints might bring him some karma and allow him to regain his fitness and perhaps more importantly his confidence at St Mary's without the pressure of trying to do that at a big club (or Tottenham) but to do that he should sign a new deal otherwise he might find himself the forgotten man by this time next year .

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