Manchester united's dithering over morgan Schneiderlin is now disrupting Saints transfer plans for the forthcoming season.

Saints were resigned to losing Morgan Schneiderlin this summer and having accepted that they had drawn up a list of quality replacements, but they have found that selling him is another matter as the player is finding out that when it comes down to it he isn't as highly rated by the top Premier league clubs as he thought.

No one begrudges Schneiderlin leaving Saints for a club in the Champions League after all he has given us 7 seasons of good service, but Saints arent willing to give him away and it seems that the only two clubs in the Premier League's Champions league contingent who have been linked with the player don't really see him as their primary target.

Arsenal despite being linked every summer since he arrived at St Mary's again have failed to put in a bid and Manchester united seem to be just playing Saints along and keeping the player warm in case they don't land their main target.

Ronald Koeman has confirmed that it is now around 3 weeks since United made an intial bid well under Saints valuation and that they have yet to return with another one.

Some Saints fans would feel relieved and think that Schneiderlin staying would be preferable than a new signing, that is probably true, but the reality is that the likelihood is that the situation will drag on and in a months time United or Arsenal having failed to land their first choices would return, entice Schneiderlin away and leave us struggling to sign a quality replacement.

That being the case Saints would prefer a quick ending to this saga so they can re invest the money in their own first choices, one of those is Jordy Clasie

Speaking to the Daily Echo Ronald Koeman said.

"Clasie is one of the players on the list what we have to replace Morgan Schneiderlin,"

"It's a good player, because it’s a young player, it’s an international Dutch player and he’s ready to make a step and to play and to show his qualities on a higher level than we have in the Dutch league.

“If Morgan goes, we need a player in that position and he is one of that.”

"If there is the interest in Morgan Schneiderlin then okay, but it has to be at the price that the club wants, because it’s one of the key players of our team," said Koeman.

"It’s an international player. But I don’t think it’s really a problem for Man United."

The dithering of Manchester United has lead some Saints fans to believe that this is the petty actions of Luis Van Gaal who is using the situation to continue his feud with fellow countryman Koeman.

Whatever the reasons, Saints want the situation sorted so they can get on with their own transfer dealings

Photo: Action Images

SanMarco added 08:50 - Jul 7 We need a second bidder. Man U know they can get him when they want and they know he is desparate to leave. Makes it a buyer's market without that second bidder. We'd have got more for Clyne with a serious second bidder. Why would Man U pay us 25m when they know (whatever the bluster) we will have to let him go for 20m or a token bit more (like with Clyne where Brenda found an extra shilling to represent an 'increased' bid). I know people will say "contracts" and "why sell, he's our player" etc, etc but although I hate the phrase 'in the real world' I think it applies here - we have had our 'extra season' from MS and better to sell cheaper than to have a reluctant and very unhappy player. Last summer's tantrum will be nothing compared to what would happen if we attempted to keep him now...

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Zambucco added 09:02 - Jul 7 After the upheaval of last season, and how we went on to exceed all expectations, it's as though we want him to go. Keep him, but still buy Jordie Clasie
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 09:46 - Jul 7 When it comes to defensive midfielders in the Premiership, only Matic is as good as Schneiderlin. The stats don't lie. It really does beggar belief that Man Utd are stalling on this. He's just what they need to sort out their dysfunctional midfield. Even Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea would be improved with Schneiderlin in their squads. I can't believe we haven't had any serious bids yet. Real Madrid are crying out for a player like Schneiderlin to anchor their midfield. Do the top clubs think he's not world class?

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gpsgm added 10:30 - Jul 7 Agree with your first para SanM, but there is no evidence to support your second. Last season Morgan did throw a tantrum but then had his best season with us. He also understands the real world and may be professional enough to react by playing even better for us and making the teams in the Champions League take notice. We won't keep him if he's going to be disruptive and it will be Ron & his team's job to accentuate the positives, again as he did last year. Its not like Morgan has a problem playing for Saints, or Saints with him, he's just trying to achieve CL ambitions.

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halftimeorange added 11:03 - Jul 7 This is beginning to feel like deja-vu - 2014 all over again. With what appears to be a cock-up over Toby, Morgan's will he, won't he situation, Ryan's injury and the departure of Nathaniel, our first start team will feature several new players (some yet to be signed) who have never played together competitively. We got away with it last season but I am convinced that was because the midfield remained intact and the defence was improved (Fraser and Toby). This time I'm not so sure. In his Sky interview yesterday RK seemed somewhat disillusioned. He will really have to prove his worth this time round. Looking at the first-team profiles on the Saints website nine of the youngsters who haven't regularly featured for us are listed. A few moments ago we also signed Martina. Interesting times ahead.

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IanRC added 11:13 - Jul 7 Maybe I am missing something but I thought we had plenty of funding (remainder of last year's surplus from transfers, Clyne money, TV money plus I thought I read somewhere that our Chairman had injected a further loan). If so why do we not go out and buy Clasie or whoever Ronald considers a suitable replacement. It will not be the end of the world if Morgan chooses to stay as you could argue we would just be replacing Jack Cork. As for MU, they are not the great club they used to be and seeing their CL position under threat they are just trying to pay as little as possible to one of their competitors. Surprised there is not more interest from the continent but that might be because of the baggage that comes with being in the richest league in the world.

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SaintBrock added 11:33 - Jul 7 The apparent hesitancy at Old Trafford doesn't help us in the slightest. Morgan wants to leave and if press stories have any substance would like to join Arsenal. If neither follows through we are left with a very disillusioned and unhappy Morgan who really doesn't want to stay any longer but has no other option as the truth sinks in that the Big Clubs don't rate him as good enough.

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SanMarco added 11:57 - Jul 7 I really hope you are right gpsgm. I don't know about 'evidence' but I just don't 'feel' that MS would knuckle-down and get on with it for a second year. I would love to be wrong.
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 12:26 - Jul 7 Good point IanRC; why aren't Saints signing Clasie now anyway? Schneiderlin is most likely to leave this summer and even if he stays then we are still short in DCM if we are going to be playing twice a week for most of the season. My view would be get Clasie in now. He's an excellent player and a bigger team might come in for him and then we would've missed our chance. In DCM we have Wanyama, Schneiderlin, Reed and Steven Davis can do a job there if needed. Other than that its only youngsters.

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BoondockSaint added 13:38 - Jul 7 Agree with posts who want to sign Clasie now. If we wait we will pay more since by that time they will know we are desperate. Though I may be giving them too much credit, maybe the delays are not only ManU's effort to get the price down, but also to weaken our bargaining positions for other signings and so weaken at team they see as a competitor for the coming season. Signing Clasie would show we do things on our schedule, not on the schedule dictated by ManU.

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FrankSaint added 14:19 - Jul 7 Reading the news stories is there a sense of déjà vu? Not really. Is there a summer of uncertainty. Certainly. And lots of bedwetting over idle speculation? Definitely. I for one would like to leave room for homegrown players. Otherwise we are just another foreign owned business disguised as a football club.
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Jesus_02 added 16:09 - Jul 7 It seems to be saints that are dithering not Man U. We should still have capital in the bank. We don’t seem to be anywhere near as confident as we were a couple of seasons ago. We have spent 9m on Soares and Juanmi and now Cuco Martina (2-3m) when we could have sealed the deal for Toby for 10m (+1.8m buffer) I am becoming increasingly worried that we will end up treading the same path walked by Lowe. Frittering away money from big sales on average players in the hope they improve so we can sell them. We just end up left with a lot of average players that no one wants to buy.

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SaintBrock added 21:44 - Jul 7 Just having players with such exotic sounding names should scare the pants off most other teams.
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