For nine months now we have heard rumour after rumour of Manchester United's interest in Sadio Mane, the only problem being that United themselves seem to have had no interest in the player other than using his name to try and placate their fans.

Manchester United despite constant press reports do not seem to have ever contacted Southampton Football Club about signing Sadio Mane although if you read the media they are sat in their offices at Old Trafford thinking of doing nothing else.

In the meantime Mane has enjoyed a somewhat average season at St Mary's scoring the odd goal or two sporadically and doing little to suggest that he could survive in the bear pit that is Old Trafford when United play at home.

Now comes the latest rumour and it is the most absurd one yet, United are willing to offer Memphis Depay as part of a swap deal to land Mane.

Ronald Koeman is of course an avid admirer of Depay and indeed Saints were linked with his in Koeman's first season with Saints, but it was United who landed the player for a fee of £25 million last summer.

Depay has not been a great success and now it seems that United are wanting to off load him and it seems they are willing to use him as bait to land Sadio Mane.

There are of course flaws in this train of thought, firstly the same journalists who claim Louis Van Gaal is desperate to sign Mane are also the same ones that are saying in the next column that Van Gaal is a dead man walking and that Jose Mourinho is already signed sealed and delivered as his replacement.

Secondly if that is the case then it is highly unlikely that Mourinho will be looking for the likes of Mane when he can better and more established players for the same price.

Thirdly there is the matter of whether Depay himself would want to move to Saints, he has three years left on his contract at Old Trafford and he is on far more money than he would be able to get at St Mary's, would he be willing to take a drop in wages not to mention leaving a club like United, it could do irreparable damage to his reputation and career, even if he was to be a success at Saints most clubs would question his ability to do it on the truly big stage.

BUt that doesn't stop the media, who seem to be on a mission to see how many Mane to United transfer stories they can put out in one season, so far they must be on course for the record !

Photo: Action Images

Jesus_02 added 09:59 - Apr 27 The biggest thing stopping this deal getting done is that Mane has been better than Depay. So why would Saints want to swap, unless there is money also involved.
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SaintBrock added 16:50 - Apr 27 If he leaves it must be for cash which Manure appear to have by the bucket load swilling around in their trough.
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TeamCortese added 19:09 - Apr 27 Firstly Mane has not had an average season. He's already scored more goals than he did last season with a few games to spare. Yes he could have been more consistent but due to unfortunate circumstances he had dips in form earlier in the season. When you consider that he's scored 11 goals in all competitions that's a pretty decent return compared to most midfielders in the league. Any midfielder that can chip in more than 10 goals a season is definitely worth keeping. Mane has done that in addition to assists. I really do think you're doing him injustice Nick. Raheem Sterling himself has only scored 11 goals and he cost Man City £49 Million! What is the contribution of Steve Davis and JWP? Or even Pelle for that matter? I don't care if they're good at passing the ball backwards or the odd decent set piece, I want to see goals and assists. Personally I don't think Depay would be a bad option. He's technically more gifted than Mane and is 2 years younger. The problem is his attitude. He hasn't not done much with his career and is already acting arrogant. If we do the swap and get 5-10 million on top that's a very good deal. However, I think we should raid Newcastle if they get relegated and buy Wijnaldum and Andros Townsend.

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